Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament
by Chaos Valkyrie
Summary: Jenni has been transported to Domino to participate in a tournament she knows nothing about. Chapter 18: Ra revealed also Jenni and Seto have ice cube issues...
1. Arrival

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 01:** January 27, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. If I did, why would I be writing fan fiction, since I'd be extremely rich off royalties and such? Speaking of rich, I'm not that either. Don't sue, I'm just a crazy girl writing a story that is sadly enough, inspired by a card (D. D. Warrior Girl).

**Author's Note:** This takes place about 4 years after Battle City ends. Hence, Mokuba is around 14-15, and the others are 19, 20-ish. I know what happens in Battle City and the Noa saga, and those events may be referred to at some point. Beyond Battle City, I don't know much about what happens, so I'm skimming over it and making up my own plotline.

**Summary:** The first of several planned-out stories. Jenni is transported magically to Domino to compete in the mysterious Winter Tournament. Why has she been brought here and what does Yugi & the Gang have to do with it?

* * *

**Chapter One: Arrival**

Jenni Moran awoke in an alleyway with a serious neck cramp. She raised her head, groggy with an overdose of headache.

"Where the fuck am I?" she moaned softly to herself. She sat up slightly, a bag falling out of her lap. The alley was covered in shadows, but she could see a clear blue sky up above the faded bricks of the buildings. She massaged her neck with one numb hand, trying to get rid of the cramps.

Looking around, she saw no one. Slowly, she checked her pockets. Her school ID was missing, but her cash was still there. Her sunglasses – check. Her jewelry – check. She flipped open her back pack which had been on the ground beside her. Textbooks – check. Laptop – check. Journal – check. All that was missing was her college ID card – everything of real value remained.

'_Hmm, maybe I lost the ID, can't see why anyone would want that,'_ she thought to herself. And she didn't think she had been, well, assaulted or raped or anything. Besides feeling cramped, obviously from sleeping on ice cold asphalt, she didn't feel, well, violated. Just stiff, sore, and damned cold. It was the middle of winter, after all.

'_Well, I'd better go home, who knows what time it is. I can figure all this out later.'_

Slowly, she stood up, and started to pick up her leather knapsack when a paper bag caught her eye. In simple, bold letters, it had 'JENNY' written on it. She reached for it, wondering if it held some answers. She unrolled the top, peering inside. All she could see was some bulky, mechanical_ thing_, and a small leather box. She reached for the box, and her hand dislodged an envelope.

All of a sudden, she heard noises. She pulled out the envelope, then shoved the bag into her knapsack. Normally, she could take care of herself, but she had no idea how she got here, and there were too many voices coming towards her for her to want to find out the hard way. Head held high (and aching all the while) she marched out of the alley and into the bright light of the streets.

The glare caught her off guard for a second. She pulled her blue-tinted sunglasses out and put them on before she really got a good look at her surroundings. Then her jaw dropped.

'_Where the fuck am I?'_ she thought to herself yet again. People were hurrying up and down the cold streets, passing her as she gawked. She slowly moved to the curb as she looked around at the unfamiliar buildings and signs. She knew her college town by heart, and this certainly wasn't it. She slipped the envelope into her pocket, and, still slightly dazed, walked down the street. No one looked at her too closely, just some casual once-overs from passing boys and such. Nothing new there.

She noticed a newsstand and paused. Even though she was now totally confused, she didn't think it wise to broadcast it. That would just set her up for more trouble, probably as mugger-bait. Or worse. Hmmm, playing a stranger/tourist in a strange land would be okay, just not a dazed and confused, _lost_ stranger. She walked over, and the smiling old man turned his attention to her.

"Good morning! How can I help you?" he asked, eyes twinkling.

"Um, I hate to sound silly," she started, acting embarrassed, which wasn't far wrong, "but I'm visiting my cousin, and she wanted a copy of the local paper. However," she grinned sheepishly, "I don't know which one that is. Can you help me?"

"Oh, she probably meant the Times. Here you are," he said, pushing it over the counter towards her. Jenni refused to look at the heading, not wanting him to see the inevitable surprise on her face, instead glancing around at the other magazines and papers around him.

"I think I'll get that one with the dragon on the cover too, if you don't mind," she said, digging out some bills. She handed them to him, and he slipped the two periodicals in a bag and handed it to her with her change. It was still warm from the heat of the little booth. He smiled kindly at her, and she felt her cheeks burn slightly. "You wouldn't happen to know a place that makes great coffee, would you?" she asked, hopefully.

"Ah, another caffeine addict," he laughed, motioning to his own Styrofoam cup. "Try Perks in the city plaza, down that way," he said, pointing down the street. "They make the best in town."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. She turned and started down the street. Maybe some sweet nectar of the gods, aka coffee, would help clear things up.

* * *

**End Notes:** Jenni and other original characters introduced throughout are mine, please don't copy them into other stories. Sadly enough, I already have some of the sequels planned out, so don't mess with the Jenni saga. Thank you. Feel free to write anything you like in the reviews, but stupid little flamers who trash this story merely to be obnoxious little gits will be flamed themselves in my end-notes. You have been warned. That in mind, however, I will say that I'm writing this for me, so it'll be updated regardless of flames. I'm not the type of person to hold a story ransom for reviews like some people… :P. Also, there will not be any yaoi or yuri – I don't have any problem with either one, so of my favorite stories are those, but I'm not much of a romance writer, and so any relationships that are thrown in will focus on the hinted-at boy-girl pairings in the anime, since I'm completely out of the loop in regard to the manga (except vol. 1 & 2 & 3, the English translations. Yes, I'm a pure English YGO fan. Sorry, all the Japanese I know is from reading fan-fiction!). 


	2. More Confusion

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 02:** January 28, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Hmmm, checking mail… nope, no royalty checks. Damn. I guess I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

**Author Notes:** Hmm… my character is somewhat of a potty mouth. Can't imagine where she gets that from… whistles to self… Last chapter was kind of short, but its an intro, what can you expect? This chapters a little longer. I will say that the story mainly revolves around Jenni, so it may be awhile before you see many of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters.

* * *

**Chapter Two: More Confusion**

_'Well, at least this is familiar,'_ she sighed to herself. The coffee _was_ good. She sipped contentedly, sitting at a small round table outside the coffee shop. Her hazel eyes watched people scurry about in the snow outside awhile, before facing the inevitable.

Halfway through the cup, she sighed inwardly and pulled out the bag and envelope. First, she used her pocket knife to slit open the envelope. She pulled it open and looked in. _'Hmm!' _Inside there was only a small piece of paper and a key. She pulled out the paper.

_'251 West Maple, Apt 2B'_ was all it said. It was written in some spiky, black writing, as if the writer was in a hurry. She put it back in the envelope, and folded it into the inner pocket of her jacket. Grudgingly, she pulled out the newspaper.

_'Domino! Where the hell is Domino?'_ she stared at it in surprise. She downed the rest of her coffee without really tasting it. The paper read '_Domino Daily Times_'. She shoved it back in the bag, and pulled up her knapsack. She knew there was no such town in her state, nor really, any of the states around hers for that matter. Not that she knew of. And this seemed to be a rather large town, so it would show up on a map. _'Hmmm.'_

She flipped open her knapsack and started to shove the bag inside. Then she realized that she had that first bag in the way. She pulled it out and shoved the other one in between her textbooks. She opened the bag, and pulled out the mechanical thing, and the little leather box. She looked at the machine first.

She snorted. It looked like the wing off a toy airplane, almost. It seemed to have a strange band on the bottom, like it would fit on your wrist or something. _'But who would wear something like this?' _she wondered, smiling_. 'Talk about a fashion faux-pas!'_ However, no matter what angle she looked at it, it seemed to have no answers for her. She shoved it back in the bag.

She looked at the leather box next. She opened it up, and it held – cards? She pulled them out, and then looked in the box to see if there was anything she was missing. There was a tiny black cube, but it was featureless. She sighed and glanced over the cards. She liked the pictures on them, but they didn't hold any answers for her either, so she put them away as well. Back to the knapsack it all went.

She pulled on the backpack, and tossed away her cup. She pulled out the envelope again, and re-read the address. She didn't want to go there, she knew it was stupid and probably dangerous, but it was the only choice she had. She looked outside, where snow was softly falling. Sighing, she resolutely marched off.

* * *

Dark blue eyes narrowed as they watched the honey-haired girl at her table. Normally, Seto Kaiba could care less about the other patrons at this particular café. He only cared about the coffee, which was the best in Domino. He sat, drinking his coffee and typing away on his laptop. This was his usual behavior, and no one paid it any attention. However, when the girl pulled out one of his latest duel disks, his eyes narrowed. There was just something… well, not right about her behavior. She was holding and examining it much like Pegasus had done with his first prototype. But if she was participating in this new tournament, then she couldn't be that confused by it. He watched her shrug and winced as she shoved it in the bag. _'What's going on here?'_ he wondered to himself.

He then watched her open her black deck box and glance through the cards. Again, something was… off. He narrowed his eyes tried to analyze her behavior, much like he did with other business associates and would-be duelists.

_'She seems confused. Slightly anxious. She looks at her cards as if she doesn't know what they are, or what the duel disk is used for.' _He pondered this momentarily. _'But how could she be in the tournament otherwise? Only experienced duelists can participate.'_ He frowned to himself. As she stood up to leave, he made a mental image of her appearance in his photographic memory. He'd get to the bottom of this all right.

* * *

Jenni had only taken a few steps when she heard a deep voice behind her. "You're headed the wrong way," it told her.

She quickly turned around, coming face-to-face with a drop-dead gorgeous hunk of man. She tried to keep her mouth closed, but it was difficult.

'_Hubba hubba,'_ she drooled inwardly.

"How do you know where I'm going?" she asked the tall hunk, trying to act cool but inwardly, hoping for some answers.

"I saw your Duel Disk. The tournament announcements are this way," he nodded towards the park nearby.

Jenni opened her mouth to ask some questions, but quickly shut it. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he turned around and walked towards the park. Jenni ran to keep up with his long strides, mulling over this new development as she followed him.

'_I assume the Duel Disk must be the airplane wing. I hope,'_ she thought to herself. She followed him into the park, shivering slightly as the snow quietly melted on the pavement. Soon the ground would be cold enough for the snow to stick, and judging by the heavy sky above her, there would be plenty of snow to be had.

Jenni followed her grumpy dream boy into a large clearing in the center of the park. A lot of teenagers and adults her age (about 19) were already there, facing a platform at the far end. Jenni, being rather short, followed the man before her as he pushed his way to the front of the crowd. Looking around, she noticed the clothing on some of the others.

'_Man, I must look like someone's grandmother!'_ she thought, looking down at her own barn jacket and heavy cardigan. Most of the other females must be frozen, judging from the total _lack_ of clothing on their bodies. And of the men, some were dressed normally (to her at least) while the others seemed rather on the punk side. Even her hunky man was wearing an outrageous blue, metal studded leather trench coat.

She wasn't left much time for contemplation, however, as a silver-haired, older gentleman stood up at the podium.

"Greetings, Duelists from around the world," he smiled at the gathered youth.

'_Duelist! What?'_ Jenni thought to herself. He continued.

"I am Albert Stevenson, President of Stevenson Technologies Unlimited, and your Host for this tournament."

Jenni noticed that the man's wide smile did not extend to his eyes, which seemed colder than the air around them.

"My colleagues and I have designed this tournament not only to test your skills as duelists, but your skills at survival as well. This Winter Tournament," he nodded at the sign above him, "will test your ability to duel under pressure. I will assure you that no one's life will really be at risk in this tournament; however, you will be forced to duel in the elements, bringing the illusion of higher stakes. Our preliminary rounds will take place at your discretion, at times and places of your choosing, thanks to the Duel Disks invented by our business associate and former World Champion Seto Kaiba himself!" the man announced, waving his hand towards her hunky stud. There was polite applause amongst the gathered Duelists, which Jenni joined, but she noticed that Seto didn't quite appreciate the use of the word "former". Once the applause had subsided, Stevenson continued.

"I hope that you have all taken the time to go down to headquarters and pick up your Duel Disks and Locator Cubes –" he held a small black cube in the air.

'_The Borg have taken over the tournament!'_ Jenni crowed to herself. Kaiba raised an eyebrow at her as she began to giggle.

"You will need to win eight Locator Cubes by next Wednesday in order to compete in the Semi Finals, which will be an experience unlike any other! Only eight of you will qualify for the privilege of competing in the exciting final rounds of this tournament. And the prizes are beyond your wildest dreams, with one million dollars to be awarded to our newest World Champion!" The crowd buzzed excitedly at this news. Stevenson laughed and motioned silence with hands. The crowd gradually subsided.

"If you have not registered yet, please do so today. The duels begin tomorrow, and I wish you all the best of luck!" he held his hands up to the crowd, and some of the teens cheered as he walked off the stage. Jenni looked around her as the crowd dispersed. She wasn't sure why, but the speech had left her slightly disturbed. She didn't like the Stevenson man, and her instincts were never far wrong, even when she didn't exactly know why.

All she knew right now was two things: one, that she had been entered into a tournament and game that she knew nothing about, and she wanted to know why. Two, she needed some new clothes – she felt a little overdressed compared to these people. The last thing she needed was for her competitors to start calling her Granny.

* * *

_'Ah yes, suburbia – where they tear out the trees and then name streets after them,' _she thought to herself. She had so far passed Elm Street, Oaklawn, and Sycamore Park, before finding the Maple Avenue in question. Oddly enough, it broke the rule, and was lined with frost-covered maple trees.

'_Well, this is it, 251 West Maple,'_ she thought, looking up at the building before her. It seemed like a nice area. The street had a happy feel to it, despite the cold. The building in question was a squat, older building, built of brownstone that was slightly crumbly at the edges. She paused, then walked up the old steps, heart pounding madly. There was a row of intercoms to the left, she buzzed 2B. Nothing.

She tried the door. Locked. She pulled out the key, and was only half surprised that it worked. She pulled the door open and looked around the lobby. There was a line of mailboxes to her right, and a door marked Office next to them. There were a few more doors along the hallway, but nothing _seemed_ threatening or suspicious. She walked up the stairway to her left, and down the hall to 2B. She pulled her pathetic little pocketknife out of her jacket pocket, and holding it ready, turned the key in the lock.

She peered around the edge of the door, looking in at the brightly-lit apartment. She opened the door and slipped inside, closing it softly. She waited for her heart-beat to soften so that she could listen clearly. The room appeared to be a combination kitchen and living room, sparsely furnished. Not lived in at all. She edged down the hallway. She glanced in the rooms, checked the closets, even looked under the bed. No one was here.

Slightly annoyed at having gone into tense-as-hell attack mode for no reason, she went back to the kitchen and prepared to leave. However, the sight of a folder on the counter made her pause. It was simply marked "Welcome to Domino, Jenny" in that same spiky script. She grabbed the folder and ripped it open.

"Ok-ay," she said out loud. The contents confused her. A contract for the apartment, signed with her name in someone else's handwriting, was the first thing to greet her. The contract was stamped 'paid in full' for the next year. There was an entry form, same fake signature, for the Winter Tournament. Bank forms, with (she checked) a _nice_ healthy balance. A bank credit card and papers. "What the hell is all this?" she asked out loud.

She closed the folder and turned. Seeing the phone, she did what she should have done in the first place. Called home.

The phone buzzed in her ear. _Number does not exist._

She tried her sister's house. _Number does not exist._

Her brother.

Her grandmother.

All of her friends, one by one.

_Number does not exist._

* * *

**End Notes:** I'll tell you now, this is not a romance! But Kaiba is a hottie, and Jenni is a red-blooded female, so she will be thinking about him (for part of this anyways) in not-so-innocent ways. However, don't even begin to think that she'll play drooling doormat through-out all of this fic… Kaiba's about to meet his sarcastic match! Also, as noted in Chapter 1, although it's a new world, the money is the same... really, I just didn't feel like going to the trouble of working with new currency. And I know its strange that Jenni has an apartment and everything waiting for her… but if some random stranger wants to use her to get something (no hints there) then why not put her up for awhile? They're not going to get what they want by dumping her in the streets, now are they? And besides, these crazy power-seeking freaks are always loaded – Pegasus, Kaiba (well, he's not a freak anyway), Malik, Duke, you get my drift. And the crack about their clothes… well, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS? My parents would have killed me before letting me out of the house dressed like Mai or like Téa. 


	3. To Exist or Not Exist

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 03:** January 31, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Well, since I am female, I guess I can't be Kazuki Takahashi. Darn. Still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

**Author Notes:** All right, so far, she's beginning to realize that she's not in Kansas anymore. Not that she was there to begin with, but hey! Anywho, more info, yada yada yada. Duels and YGO character interaction coming shortly!

* * *

**Chapter Three: To Exist or Not Exist**

It was a few hours later. Jenni had left the apartment, walking back to the area where Perks was located. She patrolled the boutiques and stores along the square. Nothing like a little shopping to help improve her mood, and she wanted to make sure that the bank card did in fact work. She came back to the apartment loaded down with clothes and various trinkets for her new apartment. She may not like being here, but she would make the most of it.

She dumped the clothing and her new bedding in the bedroom, and proceeded to unpack her groceries in the kitchen. Before she had left, she had given the apartment another going-over, and found it to be severely lacking. The apartment had a lot of the bare essentials, a few bare necessities, but nothing more. There was a bed with an uncomfortable looking pillow, and white cotton sheets. There were no curtains anywhere, only some blinds that looked like they came with the apartment. The bedroom also had an empty dresser and closet. There was a small bathroom with a bar of soap and one towel. Period. There was an almost-empty room with large windows, a desk, bookcase, and a wooden chair. The main area had a simple white couch and two small tables, one with a lamp. The kitchen area had a small radio, which she now turned on to a rock station (_'Well, at least the music is somewhat the same.'_) The cupboards had basic groceries and a mug, a plate, and one set of silverware that looked like it had been stolen from a cafeteria. There were a couple of wobbly-looking stools pulled up to the island, where she supposed she could eat her meals. She was beginning to think that the person who stuck her here, nicknamed Spiky (for the hand-writing), must not like her very much. Like she cared. She just wished they knew how to spell her name right.

She smirked as she unloaded the groceries. She took out her new kettle, and after washing it, filled it with water and put her groceries away while it heated up. When it began to whistle, she pulled out one of her newly-washed coffee mugs and made herself some instant coffee. Slurping away, she moved on to her next set of shopping bags and began to unload. A few candles and pillows placed in the living room helped make it seem more lived in, and as for artwork, she would soon take care of that. She dumped a new sketchbook and some sketching supplies in the office room next to the desk. She shelved her new books on the shelf before heading to the bedroom.

She had noticed that half of the people at the park had been wearing leather of some sort, and so she had felt compelled to buy her own pair of leather pants at one particular boutique. Then she threw in a leather biker jacket to match. Some corsets in various shades, like she had seen several girls wearing quickly followed. She also had bought some of her standard jeans and a few more alluring tops to go with them. And a down vest, fuzzy scarf and hat and some fingerless gloves had followed, to complete a snow-bunny look.

Her most ecstatic purchase had been a holster to carry her airplane wing in. She didn't relish the thought of having to wear it all the time, and this she could slip on her belt next to her deck case, and keep her hands free.

After she had finished putting away her purchases, Jenni finished her coffee and headed back out the door. She had promised the lady at the art store that she would come back before they closed at 5 to get the rest of her purchases – an easel and some painting supplies. When she returned, she would settle back into the problem of her would-be non-existence in this world. However, shopping was good for the soul, and she would make the most of it.

* * *

To say that Seto Kaiba was pissed would be an understatement. He had been interrupted continuously throughout the day, with pointless meetings and questions about the company's latest projects. He had only meant to come to work for a short while, but ended up spending the whole morning working with idiots. His lunch had been all too short, and what he found when he had hacked into the Stevenson mainframe had not improved his mood any.

"How can this be!" he gritted.

Kaiba had pulled up the Tournament database and rifled through the duelist profiles until he found the girl from this morning. 'Jenni Moran, Level 5 Duelist' was listed, along with her picture and a picture of her rarest card, a Red-Eyes Black Dragon. But the rest of the profile was what bothered him. Or really, the_ utter lack _of it bothered him.

For Battle City, Kaiba's staff had analyzed every duelist's capabilities. Examined their decks, their records, everything. Like Battle City, a 5-Star or better duelist was a shoe in, while only select 4-Star duelists were allowed to compete. Anything lower was not accepted. Needless to say, extensive dueling information was required to enter a tournament of this stature.

This girl's profile was blank. Just the front page basics, none of the statistics. A quick search revealed that her's was the only incomplete record in the database. So, this was deliberate. Kaiba knew this had to be internal to Stevenson's company – no one could hack into their system and change their stats. Many had tried, none had ever succeeded. Kaiba doubted that even he could change any of the stats before him, although it was tempting to demote the Mutt once and for all.

_'What's the deal with this girl, and why do they want her in this tournament so badly?'_ he thought to himself. He massaged his forehead, feeling a splitting headache coming on. He planned to get the bottom of this.

* * *

Jenni sighed. She couldn't explain any of this. After returning with the last of her purchases, she had called everyone she knew, her college, every number she could think of. They simply did not exist. And here she was, in this strange town that didn't exist (well, to her knowledge) not existing herself. It was all too confusing. Well, at least coffee still existed, but her stomach was about to revolt if no food was offered to it.

She knew she wasn't dreaming, she knew this was a waking nightmare, at least. She took off her coat and pulled out the backpack, and did a more thorough search of her possessions.

First, she set the non-possessions to the side. The mangled airplane/Duel Disk, the cards, the newspaper and magazine. All new to her. They key, the envelope, etc.

She pulled out her laptop and turned it on. While it started up, she pulled out her textbook. Russell/Norvig, Artificial Intelligence. That checked. "Hmm, that's the last thing I remember. I left class, chatted with Drew awhile, and then started towards the 4th Street Building for Photography. That's it."

The computer was almost finished booting. She pulled out her class notes, glanced over them. Nothing amiss. A few diagrams, scribbled explanations, a snide comment about the professor scribbled in the corner, courtesy of Harmony, her best friend. Digging further, she pulled out her camera's padded case. It seemed fine. But digging in the case, she realized her film was missing. She yanked it open. The unused film was still there, but the rolls for her assignment were gone.

Grabbing a sheet of paper and a pen, she started a list.

Missing:

College ID.

Photography assignment.

She delved further in the bag. She pulled out her journal and opened it. All the pages she had written on, glued pictures to, were torn out. Her heart wrenched, and she added that to the list. Her good luck dragon plushie, a gift from Harmony, was still there. Her wallet was the last thing. Dreading it, she opened it. All her cash was still there, but her license and other cards were gone. She added that to the list. She turned to her laptop. She rifled through it, and started to get angry. All her papers, stories, poems, all that remained. Her games too. But her journals were missing. Her personal photographs. Everything that talked about her life was missing.

Then she understood. Everything missing directly linked her to her home world. These things were like reference points. They linked her to her past. With them gone, it was like she had never existed. As if this was the only world she knew. She pulled out her modem cable and linked to the net. She was willing to bet money as to what she would find.

* * *

Darkness had settled over Domino. Jenni's assumption had proven correct. She had used various internet searches, but found no trace of herself, her family, her friends, even her schools. Her theory was correct – she had been neatly wiped out of one existence, and thrown into another. She stretched, and got up to make some dinner. Crying wouldn't send her back home, and she really didn't know what else to do.

After she ate her pasta in silence, she looked through the papers again. "Well, at least whoever, um, kidnapped me set me up with some nice digs," she shrugged.

A one year lease on the apartment. Hmm, could she go home then? The bank account was more than she would need to live normally for a year, so she could add to the apartment some more. But this tournament thing confused her. The others were basic living essentials – but why force someone into a tournament they knew nothing about? She shrugged again, got up and looked around. She'd worry about that later. First thing, she did what any girl would do – she planned what she would buy next with this free shopping spree.

* * *

"Who is she, Big Brother?" Mokuba asked, staring at the profile his brother had sitting on his desk. Needless to say, it was unusual for his older brother to have pictures of anyone (besides Mokuba, of course) on display. Much less a _girl_.

His brother grunted, looking up from his laptop. "A new mystery duelist," Seto said.

"But why did you print out her profile?" Mokuba pressed, smirking at his older brother.

Seto raised one eyebrow. "It's not that kind of interest. Someone wants her in this tournament, setting up a fake profile to get her into it. She doesn't strike me as a typical Duelist. I want to know why they want her in this so badly."

"You mean, who she is, what kind of trump card she holds, that type of interest?" his brother asked him.

"Yes, and I'll need your help to find out more about her," Seto told him, ignoring his brother's suggestive tone.

* * *

Finally settling her mind to the trials at hand, Jenni sat down to finally read the paper. She didn't like being stuck in this world, but she thought she had better play along, for now. The front page article on the Daily Times was about the Winter Tournament. The article explained about the Duel Disks and talked about its creator and the Stevenson man, blah blah blah. But it did include a basic diagram of the disk, so she put down the paper and pulled out the duel disk and cards.

"All right, according to the article, I fit it onto my arm like so – ouch!" she yelped as she pinched herself with disk. She rubbed her arm. "Not too heavy, but not very comfortable either. Let's see, I insert the cards, um, here," she said, fitting the deck into the slot, "and turn it on here." She looked at the button. The picture showed projectiles shooting forth from the disk – she didn't think her landlord would like holes in the wall, so she refrained from turning it on. "This thing," she said, holding up the black cube, "is not a subversive device bent on world domination, but a locator cube. I need eight of these to make it to the semi-finals. Hmm. Considering I've never played this game before, this should be interesting, to say the least."

She pulled the cards out of the disk and shuffled through them. She sorted them by color first. "Hmm, Red-Eyes Black Dragon, eh?" She liked the look of him – he looked, well, almost _cuddly_. Maybe not the word everyone would use to describe him, but she thought so. "Dark Witch, Gemini Elf, pretty cool." She flipped through the cards, reading those that had directions.

She pulled out the magazine from before. The picture on the cover was of some big white dragon, not quite so cuddly. She flipped to the article inside, which talked about the tournament and game in general.

"Hubba hubba, hello again, cutie!" she said, eyeing one picture inside. Apparently, the dragon on the cover was a Blue-Eyes White Dragon ("Who named these things? A 5-year-old?") and Kaiba owned three of the four in existence. "Well, I hope I get to duel you, Kaiba-cutie!" She'd probably get her ass kicked, but at least she could drool.

The article talked about strategy ("Hmm, better get me some of that!") and tournament rules. It also showed a picture of the last tournament winner, some strange spiky-haired kid, dressed in a lot of leather and buckles. ("Don't any of these kids have parents? And just where are the Fashion Police?") The Duels officially began tomorrow, and she had about eight days to win seven more cubes.

Well, first things first. She understood the hint that she was supposed to compete in this thing. And, unless her mysterious provider wanted her cube for an easy finals ticket, she assumed she was supposed to make it to the semis. So, statistically, she needed seven cubes to get to the finals. If she "dueled" once a day starting tomorrow, she'd have seven, hopefully, by next Monday (one week from today, according to the paper.) Then, if she lost a duel or two, she had time to recoup before next Wednesday, when all Duelists with eight cubes were to meet at the park. But, first things first.

She sighed, then hooked into the internet and searched for "Dueling for Dummies."

* * *

**End Notes:** Well, I'm not sure about what the minimum duelist level was allowed into BC, but I figure a 5-star would be good enough to enter, but on the lower end of the tournament's dueling skills. Also, she's no Mary Sue – she knows she couldn't win a duel to save anyone's life right now. Hence, Dueling for Dummies! Look for actual YGO/OC character interaction next chapter! 


	4. Of Dogs and Duels

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 04:** February 6, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Yup, still a chick. Can't be Takahashi. Darn.

**Author Notes:** Awww, new days, new friends! Dueling here is like it is in the show, not in the actual TCG. Basically, any creative combo can probably work. After all, I have yet to get a Polymerization card to fuse a Mammoth Graveyard with a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Hmm, that's never gonna happen in the TCG, but it does in the show. Go figure.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Of Dogs and Duels**

_'Well, that wasn't too bad,'_ Jenni sighed inwardly. Of course, the kid she had just battled looked like he was about twelve or so, but at least she didn't have to undergo the humiliation of being ousted by a kid almost half her age. Still, for being seven years younger, he had put up a good fight.

She walked away into the snow with the new card still in her hand_. 'I thought I was toast when he pulled that Paralyzing Potion on my Red-Eyes,'_ she thought. Luckily, she had drawn Metalmorph, and her Black Metal Dragon crushed the rest of his life points. She paused, and slipped the new cube and "Buster Blader" into her belt pouch. She hated taking his rarest card, but it was tournament policy, everyone knew that.

Well, at least she won her first duel, and her snow-bunny outfit passed the test as being cute, not granny-ish. The vest was light blue, and she wrapped her grey scarf tighter around her neck as the winds picked up. The weather had been rather calm during her duel, but now it was really beginning to cool down. She hoped the tournament would remain moderately clear sailing. She left the park and headed into the streets, smiling. _'Time to shop some more!'_ she inwardly cheered, until she heard a noise that made her stop in her tracks.

* * *

"Mister Kaiba," a voice came from the two way radio embedded in his collar.

Seto Kaiba was wandering the streets. He had already crushed an amateur duelist, hoping to knock down the former world champ. Mokuba, too, was out in the streets, having won his first duel of the tournament as well as keeping an eye open for that girl. Kaiba paused as the voice continued.

"Mister Kaiba, the girl is dueling in the Domino Park. Do you need us to send a helicopter to transport you to her location?"

Before he could reply, Mokuba cut in.

"Hey Seto, I'm near the park now. I'll head that way and meet up with you," he said.

"Agreed. I'll be there shortly," Kaiba replied.

* * *

Jenni paused outside the alleyway, trying to see inside. The snow was swirling down around her, the whistling breeze making it difficult to hear anything. She took off her earmuffs, then listened again. Then there was a noise, a rasping, panting noise coming from the shadows. Hoping it was just an animal, she edged into the alley. The panting changed to a soft growl as she neared the dumpster at the end of the enclosure.

She looked around the dumpster, and came face to face with a once-white, furry dog with startling dark blue eyes. _'A husky, maybe,'_ she said to herself, and then noticed that the dog was favoring it paw. She knelt down, averting her eyes so the dog would not think her a threat. It continued to growl, but more hesitantly.

Jenni moved slightly forward, whispering sweet nothings to the dog. It blinked, then came slowly to her. She ran a hand through its matted fur, and the dog licked her face. She smiled at it, and petted it some more before she reached for its paw. The dog jerked away, but didn't make any threatening gestures. She softly felt the paw and its ankle. It seemed slightly swollen, but not too bad. Jenni sighed, and spoke to the dog directly.

"Well, do you think you can walk on that, or do I get to carry you?" The dog looked up at her. He was dirty and a little smelly. She looked down at her snow bunny outfit and sighed. She hoped the apartment building had a laundry room. She made sure her disk was secure in the holster before she gingerly picked up the dog. He resisted a little at first, but then snuggled down into her warm arms. She smiled, then left the alleyway, almost colliding with a kid running by.

"Oh, I'm sor-," he started, then looked up at her with shock. He looked about forteen or so, and his eyes widened as he looked up at her, then at the dog. She smiled at him, and he blushed.

"That's okay. I just found this dog, and he seems to be hurt. You wouldn't know any good vets, would you? I'm new here," she explained. The boy shook his head, and she sighed. "Oh well, I'll just have to look at it on my own then. Thanks."

The boy cleared his throat. "Do you need some help with that?"

She looked him over. "Well, he is slightly heavy, but I don't think you could manage him any better than I could." The dog in question was starting to get heavy. The boy smiled – almost slyly, she thought, and spoke again.

"Bring the car around to –" he looked at the street signs – "Sycamore Lane. Pronto."

"Who are you talking to?" Jenni asked, looking slightly confused.

He laughed. "I've got a radio on my collar." She looked, and noticed a small sparkling KC pin there.

'_Hmm. High tech kid.'_

Jenni knelt down on a clean patch of sidewalk with the dog, resting his weight on one leg. The boy just stood there with a strange smile, watching her as she petted the dog. She looked up at him, one eyebrow cocked. "My name is Jenni. And yourself?" she asked, smiling.

"Mokuba," he said. He reached down to pet the dog as well, and smiled as it licked his hand. "So you're new here?" he asked.

"Yup. Just moved here," she lied, focusing her attention on the dog.

"I see you've got a disk. Are you in the tournament?" he asked innocently.

She looked up at him. "Yeah, I am." She noticed that he had a Duel Disk as well, and hoped that he wasn't planning to challenge her to a duel now. She really didn't know what else to say, so she looked back down at the dog, which promptly licked her face. Mokuba laughed as she grimaced. "The first thing we're doing after your bath is getting you some doggie breath mints," she told it.

"Where did the dog come from?" Mokuba asked, still laughing.

"The alley. I heard him when I walked by."

"What are you going to do with him?" the kid asked.

"Keep him, of course! He needs some feeding, and definitely some bathing, but he seems like a sweetie," she told him. The dog barked agreement. They both laughed.

"Well, what'll you name him?" Mokuba asked.

"You've got a lot of questions." Jenni shrugged. "I'm not sure yet, any ideas?"

"How about 'Joey'?" a deep voice suggested. Mokuba rolled his eyes, but started laughing.

Jenni turned, coming face to face with – _'Oooo, Kaiba-cutie!'_ She blushed, but fortunately it wasn't noticeable on her already cold-flushed cheeks.

Mokuba giggled. "She wouldn't get that joke, Big Brother."

She looked up at Seto. He was smiling, slightly, at his brother's antics, but his eyes still seemed somewhat cold. Calculating, even. "Do you always pick up stray mutts?" he asked her.

Jenni stood up, meeting his blue eyes with her now-stern hazel ones. "Always," she stated. She didn't like his tone.

Mokuba coughed, noticing the non-weather related chill in the atmosphere. Luckily, a long black car rounded the corner. Kaiba raised one eyebrow, looking down at his little brother.

"You're not intending to put that thing in the car, are you?" he asked with a sigh, already knowing the answer.

Jenni started to open her mouth when Mokuba interrupted.

"Yup," he said, meeting his brother's eyes. "It's my car too!"

"Whatever," Kaiba said, turning away. "Just make sure the driver sterilizes it afterwards," he said over his shoulder.

Jenni glared at him, then smirked as she lifted the dog into the car. "Hey Kaiba," she said sweetly before following Mokuba in, "You might want to go to the doctor and get that little problem of yours check out." She ducked into the car and settled the dog before sticking her head back out the window. "It can't be healthy to continually have something stuck up your ass."

She laughed in spite of herself at his facial expression. He just glared at her through the window as the car pulled away from the curb. The driver, surprised to hear anyone talk back to his employer like that, hid a smile.

Jenni smirked as she gave the driver her address. _'Well, maybe he's not such the cutie after all,' _she thought to herself.

* * *

Jenni gave the dog some milk and torn up bread pieces before she left the apartment again. She shut him in the art room with the old sheets to lay on. Mokuba had helped her open the doors, and then left when she thanked him.

_'Add dog-shampoo to the list,'_ she thought. She had left her disk in the apartment, along with her deck. She had her empty back-pack on her shoulders, prepared to carry all the junk she'd need. Armed with her bank card, she headed out.

* * *

"She seemed nice, to me anyway," Mokuba told his brother as he got in the car later. Seto sniffed.

"Whatever. I still want to know what she's doing in this tournament," he stated.

Mokuba rolled his eyes at his big brother, then looked out the window. Then he smiled. "Driver, pull over," he asked politely. As the car slowed, he got out.

Seto looked out the window at whatever it was his brother had seen. He stiffened as he recognized Jenni Moran's laden down form through the swirling snow.

Jenni's backpack was stuffed, and she had some huge bags hanging from her arms as well as two different plants. She seemed extremely proud of herself. She laughed as she talked to Mokuba, and nodded as she handed him one of the plants and a couple of the bags. She followed his little brother back to the car, and Seto's eyes narrowed.

"Hey Big Brother, I offered Jenni a ride since she's so laden down," Mokuba gave his brother a warning look as Jenni piled in behind him. Seto rolled his eyes and started reading his paper.

"Hey, thanks for the ride. I had to get more stuff than I thought," Jenni smiled as she sat next to Kaiba. The smile didn't last long. "Hmm, on second thought, maybe I should sit next to Mokuba, I might get frostbite over here," she smirked, raising her eyebrow as Mokuba. He laughed merrily, and his brother gave him a sour look.

"Where's your duel disk?" the elder Kaiba asked her.

Jenni frowned, pretending to look confused. "Duel disk? Hmm, oh! You mean that thing that looks like a toy airplane wing? I left it at home," she gave him a sugary smile. She knew her comment would irk him – and it did.

Seto frowned at her. "The tournament's not for casual duelists. If you're not going to compete, you should get out. Of course," it was his turn to smirk, "with your attitude you probably won't be around much longer anyway." Jenni glared at him.

Mokuba sat back, staring back and forth between the two. He knew first hand how stinging his brother could be, but Jenni was returning blow for blow. He watched in silence as they continued to fence words.

"Hmph! With your attitude, it's a wonder that anyone would want to duel against you!" She wanted to tell him to take the ice cubes out of his ass, but she was still trying to be nice – well, nice in a smart-ass way. "Are you always _such_ a right little ray of sunshine?"

Seto glared at her. "Are you always _such_ a right little pain in the a-"

"We're here!" Mokuba interrupted. The car had stopped in front of her building. Jenni smirked at Seto as Mokuba opened the door. She got out, then stuck her head back in.

"Touché, for now," she said, smiling with an evil glint in her eyes, and she and Mokuba walked up the steps. She unlocked the door and they both went inside. Mokuba reappeared a few minutes later.

"I like her," he announced as he got back in the car. Seto snorted then glared down at his newspaper. Mokuba smiled as he told the driver to take them home. She may or may not be much of a duelist, but she certainly was a match for his brother's personality, at any rate.

* * *

A pair of green eyes watched the car pull away from the curb. The girl raised her dark glasses back over eyes as she walked away. Everything was going according to plan.

* * *

**End Notes:** Mwahaha… enter the villain! Briefly. 


	5. Neighbors

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 05:** February 11, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Ho-hum. You know the rap.

**Author Notes:** Hmm, more duels, more characters. Dropped the rating – I finally determined that this one won't be that bad… and Virtual Games, the sequel, won't be too bad either… however, the third one after that, which is as-of-yet only vaguely planned and unnamed, will probably see a rating hike. Quite frankly, since I know Hearts in the Shadow Realm will jump up in ratings, I just don't have the urge to make two stories somewhat gory… Ah well, back to the present!

* * *

**Chapter Five: Neighbors**

Jenni looked around the apartment, satisfied. It was starting to look a little more homey. The dog, whom she had named Fenris, seemed pretty content with his new dog-bed. She had given him a bath after Mokuba left, then fed him some canned dog food. She would give him dried food after he gained some weight. He sat on his bed next to the couch, chewing the rawhide she had gotten him earlier. The squeaky toys he ignored.

She had rearranged what little furniture there was and put out the things she had bought. A couple of candles burned brightly on the island, next to a vase of irises. The bamboo plant she had put in a window. She set her laptop up in the empty room, now her office/studio, and shelved the remains of her journal, along with the AI book. Something had fallen out of it as she placed it on the shelf, and she had almost cried when she saw what it was.

She laid it on the counter now. It was a picture she had shown Harmony on her last day at home. It was a family picture, with Harmony in it, taken when they had gone to visit Jenni's new niece. She would get a special frame for it tomorrow.

Jenni picked up the blue leash she had bought, and Fenris came over automatically. She hooked it onto his new collar (with tags) and took him out the door. He was still limping, but he looked almost like a new dog, now that he was clean.

She locked her door, and went down the stairs. A girl looked up at her from the lobby, and smiled at her. "Are you the new girl in the corner apartment?"

Jenni smiled back. "I guess so. I'm Jenni Moran."

"Mai Valentine, nice to meet you," they shook hands. "And who is this?" she asked, bending down to pet Fenris.

"His name is Fenris," Jenni replied. "I'm just taking him out for his nightly walk. Care to come?"

"Actually, I just got in. But if you don't mind, how about I come over in, say, half an hour? I can tell you about the neighborhood. We girls have to stick together, you know," Mai said, winking.

"All right," Jenni smiled, taking the slightly impatient Fenris out the door.

* * *

"So, tell me, where are the best places to shop?" Jenni asked, handing Mai a mug of cocoa.

"Ah, a girl after my own heart! I was meeting up with some friends tomorrow, a girls' day out, so to speak, so if you want to come along…" she trailed off, looking around the apartment.

Jenni smiled. "I'd love to! I didn't get to bring much out here with me," she sighed inwardly, hating to have to lie, again, but the truth was too unbelievable. "Most of my stuff is in storage right now, so until it get shipped here, I need to fill things out in here."

Mai smiled. "Well, you've asked the right girl! I'm meeting up with my friends for lunch, so if you want, we can go dueling in the morning and then meet them in the afternoon."

"Go dueling? Oh, yeah," Jenni said. She had forgotten her disk was out on the table. "Are you in the tournament too?"

"Yes, I made it to the finals in Battle City, as well as the Duelist Kingdom tournament before that," Mai said smugly. "I already have three cubes. How many do you have?"

Jenni smiled sheepishly. "Only two. I'm just trying to take it easy, for now. I hope to get a couple more tomorrow though."

"Well, I'll make sure you take care of that! We'll go out first thing," Mai said. She took another sip of cocoa.

"For a minute there, I thought you were challenging me," Jenni stated bluntly. Mai winked at her.

"Friends don't eliminate friends. For the finals, however, everything's fair game."

Jenni smiled. "I'll remember that."

Mai looked over at the dog, now sleeping. "Why Fenris?"

"I studied Mythology in school. Fenris was a giant wolf in Norse Mythology who threatened to kill the gods and destroy the world. I thought it was a better name than the one some guy gave me after I found him."

"What was that?" Mai asked, sipping from her mug.

"Joey." Jenni was startled when Mai almost spat out her mouthful of cocoa. Mai gave her a sharp look.

"Was it Seto Kaiba?" she asked.

"Ah, I take it you know him?"

"Unfortunately. He and Joey have a long standing grudge against each other. It's not as bad as it used to be, but Kaiba still calls him 'Mutt' when he sees him."

"Well, that explains the joke. I ran into his little brother right after I found Fenris. They gave me a ride here, so I wouldn't have to carry him."

"That was nice… of Mokuba."

"You're right, it was his idea."

"Of course it was." Mai drained the last of her cocoa, then stood up. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Just knock on the door, we'll be ready!" Jenni stated. She locked the door after Mai, then headed to take a shower.

_'Well, at least I've now made two friends here.'_

* * *

"You're not a bad duelist," Mai yelled, almost inaudible over the music. They were in her car, headed for the mall.

"Yeah, well you're fantastic!" Jenni yelled back. Mai just smiled. She had come by Jenni's apartment that morning just as she finished her coffee, looking like a leather-bound snow bunny. Taking Fenris along despite Mai's doubts, they headed out into the streets to win some more cubes. Mai's duel had gone pretty quickly. Fenris hadn't seemed too interested in the monster holographs – he actually seemed rather bored by them. He wasn't limping so much either, but they took it easy for his sake. Jenni's duel had come next, but this time, her duel was a lot easier. This guy was closer to their age, and his deck was mainly beast-warriors. Her dark dragons wiped the floor with him. His Shadow Spell – _'Now my Shadow Spell,'_ she thought – had given her a little trouble, but not much. Overall, she seemed to be catching on to this game. It was a lot like chess, just more complicated.

After their duels, they dropped off Fenris and shed some of their heavy tournament garb before jumping into Mai's car. The mall itself seemed quite large. This was going to be a fun day.

"So, where are we meeting your friends?" Jenni asked Mai as they walked inside.

"Over by the food court," the blond girl stated. "I need to run to the ladies', do you want to meet me there? Its that way," she said, pointing down the mall thoroughfare. Jenni nodded, and headed off.

* * *

"Hah! Loser, give me your cards!" the blond girl crowed, bounding over to the sheepish brunette. The blond girl had cropped, spiky hair, and Jenni didn't like her attitude as she entered the food court area. The short-haired brunette slowly pulled out a cube and rare card, and handed them to the cocky girl. "Hah! You should feel privileged to get trounced by me," she continued to crow. Some punk-looking guys in the background, whom Jenni assumed were the obnoxious girl's friends, guffawed and started throwing insults at the brunette.

"Why don't you go duel some toddlers now? Maybe they'll be in your league!"

"Or maybe you could find a dueling monkey and play with it?"

"You want to duel my monkey?"

Jenni folded her arms and glared at them. The guys continued, getting more and more crude. The other brunette started to turn red.

"Quite frankly, hun, it doesn't look like you've got much of a monkey to play with, now do you?" Jenni said. They all turned to her, and the guy in question turned beet red as his friends laughed at him. The blond girl glared at her.

"Stay out of it," she snarled at Jenni.

"Make me. Its time to duel me now, Spiky," Jenni smirked at her. "I'll bet two cubes and rares that I'll wipe the floor with you."

The blond girl smiled waspishly. "You're on."

The brunette gasped. She came over to Jenni, "Are you crazy? She wiped the floor with _me_ just now. You don't have to do this."

Jenni smiled at the girl. "Crazy, maybe, but I don't like people who are full of themselves. She needs to be knocked down a few notches, and I'm going to be the one to do it!"

"Let's duel!" the two girls yelled, and the battle commenced.

* * *

**End Notes:** I know, short chapter… but next chapter will be longer! I'm actually going to describe the duel, since this one is somewhat indicative to the plot. That's why it might not be out for a week or so as well… I'm going to edit the crap out of it to attempt to make it non-boring. And I'm working on fan art for this story, which will be ultra-cool, but I can't reveal it yet because it'll give away the plot! Damn! I'll let you know when I post it. 


	6. Darkness vs Chaos

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 06:** March 1, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** If I did own Yu-Gi-Oh, do you think Kaiba would've escaped from that stone slab he was tied to? Hmmm, tied up Kaiba…

**Author Notes:** And the duel begins! Oh, and by the way, for some of these cards that I've never seen on the show, I made up attack names. What else was I supposed to do?

* * *

**Chapter Six: Darkness vs. Chaos**

"Mister Kaiba, please turn the monitor to channel three, please. I think you'll be interested in the duel that is about to commence," Seto's secretary's voice came over the intercom. Kaiba sighed, looking up from his laptop briefly while turning on the television. His eyes narrowed as he watched the monitor, his company's financial reports now forgotten.

Mokuba walked into the room, tossing his duel disk on a chair before looking at his brother. "Cool beans, Seto, I've got four cubes now!" he said, before looking at the monitor. "Awesome, Jenni's about to duel," he yelled, flopping down on the couch. Jenni and some blond girl were trading insults, then both flipped out their disks and the battle commenced…

* * *

"Go Xine! You'll take her for sure," one of her punk friends yelled.

Xine smirked. "I'll go first. I play Morinphen in attack mode!"

Jenni looked at her hand, smirking. "I'll lay Gemini Elf in attack mode and attack your Morinphen with Dual Blast Attack!" The elf twins shimmered as their combined magic destroyed the fiend. She smirked as Xine's life-points went down to 3650.

Xine shrugged, laying her next card. "I'll summon Witty Phantom, and lay one card face down," she called.

Jenni drew her next card and smiled. "I'll play one card face down as well, and summon Neo the Magic Swordsman to the field." The armored spellcaster appeared next to the elf twins. "Now, Neo the Magic Swordsman, attack her Witty Phantom." Xine's monster disappeared, leaving her life points at 3350. Jenni was surprised that Xine hadn't done anything with her face down card. "Now, Gemini Elf, attack her life points directly!"

Xine's Life Points were reduced by a further 1900. Jenni blinked. Xine remained unmoved by her losses, and her little punk friends only seemed slightly worried. Xine then spoke.

"Now I'll summon Opticlops to the field, and lay another card face down! Opticlops, attack!"

* * *

Seto's eyes narrowed as he watched Jenni destroy Xine's latest monster, while having only lost 100 Life Points herself. With a face-down monster and magic card, she was still dominating the field, 3900 to 1350. Xine, however, had not lost any of her confidence. He frowned, his mind racing, trying to picture where he had seen this particular strategy before…

* * *

"Well, Spiky, how does it feel to be so close to losing?" Jenni asked, smiling.

"You should be asking yourself that question," Xine smirked back, then laughed at Jenni's distrustful confusion. "Oh, and thank you for your help… to summon my Ultimate Creature, I needed to release three of my own fiend monsters… so say Hello to the Dark Necrofear!"

A creepy blue fiend appeared in a cloud of black haze. Red eyes glittering, the bizarre feminine creature glowered at Jenni's elves. "Dark Necrofear, destroy her Gemini Elves," Xine said, almost lazily. Jenni's elves disappeared in a blaze of red light.

Jenni swore under her breath, drawing another card. "I'll play Witch of the Black Forest in defense mode!"

"Tisk tisk." Xine wagged her finger at Jenni, smirking. "You should know better. You just activated my trap!" A pair of very feminine eyes appeared over the field. "Shadow of Eyes forces your Witch into Attack Mode!"

Jenni winced as her Witch was forced to stand. "Now, I'll summon Dark Elf to the field," Xine continued, an evil smile on her face. "Then, I'll use it to attack your Witch!" Jenni's Witch disappeared. "Now, Dark Necrofear, destroy her face-down monster!"

Jenni flinched as her Life Points were reduced by 2300 points. She then smirked, although rather half-heartedly, as she laid down her newest monster. "Due to the abilities of the cards you just destroyed, I first, thanks to Shadow Tamer, take control of your Dark Necrofear for one turn." The Dark Necrofear vanished and reappeared in front of Jenni.

"Next, the Witch of the Black Forest allows me to summon one monster with less than 1500 defense points. So, say hello to the Summoned Skull! Attack her Dark Elf!" Xine's monster disappeared in a flash of lightning. "Now, Dark Necrofear, attack her life points directly!"

* * *

Mokuba looked up at his brother with large eyes. "Do you think she'll win, brother?"

Seto looked at his little brother emotionlessly. "We'll just have to wait and see. I don't think Xine's out of tricks just yet."

* * *

"Negate attack!" Xine cried, and the Dark Necrofear's attack disappeared. Jenni swore silently.

"Now, my turn." The Dark Necrofear returned to her mistress. "I'll play one card face down and end my turn."

Jenni glared at Xine curiously. "First I'll play Dust Tornado and destroy your Shadow of Eyes. Then I'll summon another card, face down. Summoned Skull, attack her Necrofear," she yelled cautiously. She was surprised however, when Xine's monster died without any traps being sprung. The Dark Necrofear vanished into a cloud of smoke, which hovered over her side of the field.

"Oh dear, did I forget to mention the Necrofear's special ability? Tisk. When destroyed," the vapor began to move towards the Summoned Skull, "It allows me to take possession of one of your monsters on the field!"

The Summoned Skull seemed to struggle, before it flew over to Xine's side of the field. "Now, _my_ Summoned Skull, attack her face-down monster!" Xine smirked as the Skull destroyed Jenni's defense monster.

Jenni stared at Xine, her eyes wide. Nothing in her hand, not even her Red-Eyes, was strong enough to destroy her own Skull. Jenni gulped uneasily.

"Trust in the Heart of the Cards," the brunette girl shouted. Jenni looked at her disbelievingly, then to Mai, who was standing nearby.

"Heart of the Cards?" Jenni asked distastefully. Mai shrugged.

"Just do it! Trust your deck to help you out!" Mai told her. Jenni shrugged herself. Her hand hovered over her deck, and she prayed to whatever Creature Above that might be listening.

"While we're young!" Xine yelled at her.

Jenni pulled the card and read it slowly. "I'll banish my Neo the Magic Swordsman and my Witch of the Black Forest from the Graveyard, removing them from the game." Xine quirked an eyebrow. "This allows me to Special Summon the Chaos Soldier, Messenger of Creation!"

Xine's mouth fell open as a soldier in black armor appeared from a swirling vortex before Jenni. Jenni was vaguely aware of Mai and the other's gasps of surprise, but her heart was pounding much too fast for her to appreciate it. "Now, Chaos Soldier, attack her Summoned Skull!"

The spiky girl practically screamed as Jenni's Chaos Soldier destroyed the monster before her, reducing her Life Points to 50.

"Now, Chaos Soldier, use your special ability to attack her life points directly!"

The fierce monster complied, sending a bolt of energy towards the blond-haired girl. Xine fell to her knees, cursing as the holograms faded. Mai and the other girls cheered. Jenni sighed in relief, her heart still pounding out a fast rhythm in her chest. She walked up to Xine, and held out her hand. "My cards, if you please? I want your Necrofear as well as the other girl's card."

Xine glared at her, but handed the cards over slowly. As Jenni turned away, Xine's punk friends helped her to her feet. Jenni put the Necrofear and one cube in her deck box, along with her deck. Then she held out the Dunamis Dark Witch and the other cube to the brunette girl, whose blue eyes widened.

"Here, I believe these belong to you."

* * *

**End Notes:** I used Dark Necrofear like in the TCG. Its ability there allows it to control an enemy monster once it has been destroyed. Also, Shadow of Eyes was the TCG version – the anime version only effects male monsters, so my female card would've been unaffected. This duel was rather to the point, very little dilly-dallying. Can't make the same promise for the other, more important duels later on, though. I'm sorry if it sucked it any way – it was hard keeping score of LP, and it was my first time writing a (Duel Monsters) duel! 


	7. New Friends in Strange Places

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 07:** March 1, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** HOW COULD SETO EVER BECOME A LUMP OF STONE! If I owned the show, do you think that I would let that happen?

**Author Notes:** Umm, can we say filler? More important stuff happens next chapter, in a non-dueling sort of way. The plot will become more apparent. But until then, filler!

* * *

**Chapter Seven: New Friends in Strange Places**

"No, you keep them," the girl replied.

"But Téa –" Mai started. Jenni's eyes widened.

"Mai, are these your friends?" she asked. Mai nodded.

"Jenni, this is Téa and Serenity," she gestured to each in turn. Then she turned back to Téa. "Take your card, Téa," she said to the girl.

Téa's eyes looked determined. "No, she won them fair and square. They belong to her."

"But I only challenged Xine because of you," Jenni stated. Téa smiled.

"Then I would be honored if you kept that card in your deck, as a symbol of our friendship. It was originally a gift from Mai, but I'd love it if you held onto it as symbol of the bond between us all," she stated with a smile. Mai rolled her eyes, but reluctantly smiled as well.

"If that's settled, then, let's eat!" said Serenity. Téa and Jenni shook hands, sealing the deal.

* * *

Seto Kaiba shook his head in disbelief as he watched Jenni offer the cards to Téa. '_Well, she'll certainly fit into that group with an attitude like that!_' he thought. Both Xine and Jenni seemed to be decent duelists, not in his league of course, but they would present a slight challenge. Right up there with that mutt Wheeler. He snorted. The read outs showed that Xine now had only 2 cubes, while Jenni now had five.

'_Well, perhaps she'll make it to the finals after all, even with that attitude._'

* * *

This was turning out to be a most awesome day, in Jenni's opinion. She now had five cubes! And she and the other shop-a-holics were slowly painting the mall red.

"Oo, leather," she said, looking through the racks in the store. Serenity held up a black leather tank against Jenni.

"This would look great on you," she told Jenni.

Jenni laughed. It was so different from anything she wore back home, yet it was pretty plain-looking compared to what the other girls wore. "All right, I'll try it on."

A few purchases later, all four girls did quite a bit of damage in the shoe store, then headed on to a jewelry store. Jenni found a velvet choker with a silver dragon that she had to have.

The girls spent the afternoon shopping their hearts out. By the time they left the mall, they were weary, but content. Serenity had been challenged to a duel during the course of the afternoon, and she had beaten the kid easily. She now had three cubes, whereas Téa had two. Mai in turn had challenged some pretty boy during the afternoon, easily winning another cube from him. This brought her up to five. Jenni and Mai waved good-bye to the other girls as they left the mall.

Jenni smiled as she and Mai unloaded her car in front of the apartment. It had been a good day indeed.

"Hey, we're all going out dancing this weekend – Téa, Serenity, and our guy friends. Want to tag along?" Mai asked as they went inside.

"Sure! What should I wear, do you think?" Jenni asked her.

"I like the silver dress thing with those strappy sandals you bought," Mai instantly replied.

Jenni laughed. "Why not! Just let me know about the time and all," she stated, unlocking her door. She walked in and flopped on the couch, laughing as Fenris pounced on her, leash in mouth.

* * *

"So, everything is moving along as planned," the man's cold voice echoed in a darkened room. The girl kneeling on the floor gulped.

"Yes, sir. The two duelists are progressing through the tournament as planned – she has five cubes, he has four."

"And the other two Cards?"

"Still no sign. We should know before long."

"When you discover this information, be sure to notify me immediately," the man replied, turning on his heel and leaving the room. The girl remained on the cold floor.

"Yes, sir," she whispered, clutching the golden javelin to her tightly. Soon.

* * *

**End Notes:** Warned yeh, didn't I! I'm too worn out from writing that duel to make this a major, plot breaking chapter! But I did add some villainy, just to get some out there. Meh. 


	8. Sky Dragon

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 08:** March 12, 2004  
**Updated:** December 23, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Do I look like Takahashi… hmm, I'd better go check… (five minutes later) Nope. Don't own.

**Author Notes:** Ah yes, here it is… Mwahaha. And no pesky duels to write! Yeah! Two more chapters of dueling freedom to go! Then comes Chapter 11… (shudder) I don't hate duels, they make the show go round and all, but its so much effort to write and develop decks and keep up the excitement… sigh.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Sky Dragon**

"What do you mean the God cards have vanished!" Seto yelled into the phone. Mokuba's head jerked up from the magazine he had been reading. The caller winced and sounded almost apologetic.

"They've disappeared. I don't know why or how, the place hasn't been broken into. I checked the safe, they were simply gone this morning. Look, the others are coming over now, why don't you join us?" Yugi told him.

"I'll be there," Seto answered shortly, hanging up. "Mokuba," he started, looking over at his brother, "Call the car. We've got a major crisis on our hands."

* * *

Jenni smiled to herself as she and Fenris walked home through the park. She now had six cubes, thanks to the dino duelist she had met near Perks this morning. She kicked his dinos back to the Ice Age, winning his Serpent Night Dragon in the process. It was only Thursday and she was way ahead of her own schedule.

She had opted for leather today, wearing her new leather pants and jacket, along with the black tank Serenity had pointed out to her. A red scarf complemented the outfit with a splash of colour, winning her quite a few glances from the men she ignored as she walked through the park. Fenris seemed to be almost healed, no longer limping on his leg as they walked through the snow. The storm had seemed to clear off for a day, and she was glad for her sunglasses as the sun's glare bounced off the snow around her. She was a little saddened that Mai had not come out with them today, but she had left a note on the door saying that something had come up, and that the two could meet tomorrow.

Jenni was passing by the lake when Fenris stopped her. He was growling softly in his throat, staring at something she couldn't see. Curious, Jenni walked over to the shore, and Fenris began tugging her towards the rocks gathered at the far end. He pulled the leash out of her hands as they neared the rocks, almost pulling Jenni over.

Cursing, she scrambled over the rocks, following her dog. She entered a small clearing, seeing no trace of the furry creature. She turned around, noticing a crevice under one of the rocks. Sighing, she leaned over it.

"Fenris, are you down there," she yelled, hearing a faint bark in reply. She frowned. It didn't seem to be deep, but he sounded like he was extremely far away. Sighing again, Jenni lowered herself into the crevice.

She found herself in a small cave, with what looked like a doorway on one side. _'Fenris must've gone that way,'_ she thought to herself, shaking her head. She walked through the doorway…

And promptly fainted.

* * *

Yugi looked around at his friends, the people who had fought beside him through all these years. And yes, he even looked at Ishizu and Malik with friendly eyes. He sighed, running a hand through his tri-coloured hair as Mokuba and Seto walked into the shop.

"That's everybody," he stated, getting down to business. "Like I said, the cards were gone this morning when Grandpa and I came downstairs. The windows were all sealed, and the door was still locked. The safe was still locked. But you can look in there yourselves, and see what we found." Yugi opened the safe door, and Téa gasped as she and others saw inside.

The safe looked like it had been attacked from the inside. The other papers that had been inside were merely ash now, and claw marks were visible on the inside of the door. Malik looked at Yugi with concern.

"Have they come to life?" he asked.

Kaiba stooped, running his hand over the scratch marks in the steel. "It would appear that way," he answered quietly. His brother raised an eyebrow at him, for Seto wasn't one to usually believe such things.

"Guys, this is a major problem! How're we going to stop the God Cards if they've come to life?" Joey exclaimed.

Yugi and Malik looked at each other. No one really knew how to answer.

* * *

"Damn it, why do I have to keep appearing in strange places all the time?" Jenni asked Fenris, who simply wagged his tail at her. "Some help you are," she told him.

Jenni had awoken on a sunlit mountainside, where the trees were just beginning to turn golden with autumn's onslaught. Her jacket and scarf were now hooked over her arm as she looked around her. Insects hummed in the trees around her, and from where she stood on a rocky outcrop, she could see an abandoned-looking temple-like structure below her in the forest. Jenni was rather annoyed by this point. She was sick of these games and with being thrown around in different worlds without any choice in the matter. Grumbling under her breath, she led Fenris down the mountainside towards the temple.

Jenni and Fenris climbed over a toppled pillar and looked around the derelict courtyard. Ivy was climbing the cracked and broken walls, and piles of decaying leaves filled the dry fountains. She walked towards the open façade of the temple's main building, peering into the cool darkness. Leaves were piled about the interior, and she and Fenris gingerly walked inside. Jenni put her jacket back on – there seemed to be a definite chill in the air. She ran a hand over a broken statue of a dragon, pulling off some of the creeper that was threatening it. Walking forward, the ground started to crumble away below her. Pulling Fenris, she backed away as the ground collapsed, leaving a large hole. The rocks vanished into the deep darkness below.

Jenni congratulated herself on escaping yet another trap when she gasped. A pair of yellow eyes shone forth from the darkness, consuming her.

* * *

"Damn, damn, damn, fuck! Why does this keep happening to me?" Jenni complained, rubbing her temples. She looked over at Fenris, who was trying to nudge her awake. "I should become the spokeswoman for Ibuprofen," she told him sourly. He licked her face.

She was back in the park, lying in the snow in the middle of the rocks. It was nighttime, judging by the darkness as Jenni sat up. She was bitterly cold and sporting a grotesque headache. She felt something lying across her legs, and grabbed the something as she rose to her feet. Pulling Fenris' leash, she marched out of the park with him, not stopping until she reached the warmth and safety of her apartment.

"Next time," she told him as she unlocked the door, "I'm leaving you behind. Comprende?" Fenris said nothing, just walked to his bowl and gave her puppy-dog eyes. Her mouth quirked into a smile as she fed him. "You're absolutely worthless, you do know that," she said as she patted him on the head.

Downing some pills, she then turned her attention to the mystery item. It looked to be a sword, golden handled. Pulling it from its rather plain sheath, she noted that it was a double-edged blade, and very sharp. A soft electric hum passed through her fingers, almost like a cat's purr. She blinked, smiling. Something felt right about holding it. Reluctantly, she put the sword back in the sheath and pulled a small bag off the hilt. Opening it, she pulled out… a card.

"Hmm, Slifer the Sky Dragon," she read aloud.

* * *

**End Notes:** Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser. And no, I have not thrown in new Millennium Items… I have a completely different idea behind this, you'll find out more later… 


	9. Complications

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 09:** March 19, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, don't you think I'd have drawn myself in as Seto's girlfriend by now?

**Author Notes:** Whoo, another chapter, and we're that much closer to figuring out what the Hell is going on! But not by much.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Complications**

Mai seemed preoccupied when she and Jenni walked out to duel the next morning. Jenni watched her closely as they wandered about the city. Mai seemed to duel almost methodically, not really paying attention to her opponent's moves. However, she still won the duel, raising her cube total to six. Jenni forced her to stop for coffee after the duel, concerned.

The two girls walked into Perks, and Jenni motioned to Mai to join her at a secluded window table. "What's up?" she asked, sipping her coffee. "Something major must be wrong if you didn't duel yesterday, so out with it!"

Mai sipped her drink, sighing. "I'm not sure how much I can tell you. My friend had some things disappear from his family's shop yesterday, and we're all pretty concerned about it."

"What kind of things?" Jenni asked.

"I can't really explain. But they're dangerous in the wrong hands," Mai said, not trying to mask the anxiety in her eyes. Jenni was concerned that the usually oh-so-cool Mai was this worried.

"Well, they'll probably turn up. Just keep your eyes open – if they are so powerful, its only a matter of time before someone uses them," Jenni told her. She looked out the window. "Hey look, Kaiba's dueling," she motioned, pointing out into the swirling snow.

The two girls watched as Kaiba summoned his Blue-Eyes, wiping the floor with his opponent. '_He seems out of it as well,_' Jenni thought to herself. She quickly sketched the Blue-Eyes onto the back of a napkin with her pen, folding the image up and sticking it deep within her pocket. Kaiba entered the café and ordered his own drink before walking to their table.

"Moran," he acknowledged before turning to Mai. "The others are going to meet at the game shop in three hours. They'll want us to be there," he told Mai, before turning and leaving the shop. Jenni gaped at her.

"I didn't know you and he were friends," she said.

Mai looked at her. "We're not really. But we are both concerned about the missing items." She stood up abruptly, finishing her drink. "Look, I'd better go. Good luck on your duels today," she said before leaving the shop.

Jenni just gaped at Mai's back before frowning. She finished her coffee, then stomped out of the café and back into the mounting blizzard.

* * *

Preoccupied, Mai Valentine huddled into her coat as she walked towards the Turtle Game shop. She had hated to leave Jenni so abruptly, but she didn't want her newfound friend to become involved in this. It was nice, she pondered, to have at least one friend who was not knee-deep in the dealings of the Shadow Realm…

Deep in thought, Mai didn't notice the man walking up behind her. A hand covered her mouth with a chemical soaked rag, and she knew no more.

* * *

Jenni had walked the streets for an hour, but had finally given up on finding another duelist. The snow was so thick and swirling that it made it nearly impossible to find the buildings around her, much less another person. She already had six cubes, and was well ahead of her own schedule. She figured she'd call it quits for the day and find someone tomorrow, once this blizzard had let up.

Jenni shook the snow off her boots and smiled as Fenris barked a greeting at her. She patted him on the head as she deposited her boots, outer gear and dueling equipment on the counter. She changed into some dry jeans, pulling the napkin sketch out the pocket of her wet jeans. Looking outside at the dense snow slamming into her window, Jenni smiled. She took some cider she had bought the day before and threw it with some spices into a pot on her stove. Mulled cider was one of her favorites – she remembered begging her mother to make it during the chill winter months back home. Maybe with the cider, she could convince Mai to open up some more later. She wasn't sure why, but something made her uneasy about Mai's discomfort. Making some coffee for the present, she pulled out a new canvas and set to work.

* * *

"I saw Mai three hours ago, she was with that Moran girl at Perks," Kaiba told the others at the game shop. Joey especially looked concerned.

"You mean Jenni," Serenity asked, putting her hand on Joey's shoulder. "Does anyone know her number?"

"No, she just moved here," Mokuba told the group. "But I do know where her apartment is!"

"Well, then, let's go!" Joey yelled, pulling Mokuba out the door with him.

"Hey, hands off my little brother," Seto yelled, charging after them. Yugi locked the door of the shop as they all ran after the three boys.

* * *

Jenni looked up from her painting as her buzzer sounded. She walked to her door and hit the intercom button.

"Yes," she asked into the speaker.

"Hey, Jenni, can we come up?" Mokuba's voice yelled through the speaker. Fenris looked up and barked.

"Yeah, I'll be right down," Jenni replied, glancing at the blizzard outside. She wondered who 'we' meant. She wiped her hands on a rag, not realizing she had paint on her nose. She walked into the hallway, not bothering to lock her door. She had hidden the sword and card in her bedroom the night before, and Fenris was put in charge of guarding them until she figured out more about them.

Jenni's eyes widened as a whole slew of people piled into the lobby when she opened the door. Mokuba, his brother, Téa, Serenity, and a slew of other boys. A blond boy charged forward, ignoring the snow that covered him.

"Where's Mai?" he asked her, his brown eyes concerned.

Jenni's forehead creased. "She left Perks not long after Kaiba talked to her there. I assumed she was going to meet you all," she told them. "Look, her apartment is upstairs, why don't you check there first?" Jenni said, leading the way upstairs.

The group followed Jenni to Mai's door, and Jenni knocked on the door. After there was no response, she used the RA knock she had learned in college. Kaiba's eye twitched at the loud pounding, but he said nothing, merely smirking at the paint on her nose.

Jenni turned to the group. "All right, she's not here. Look, what is all this about? First Mai is all worried about something dangerous that got stolen from, I assume, one of you, and now she's disappeared. Please, will one of you tell me what's going on? She is my friend too," Jenni said, crossing her arms and glaring at the others. When no one said anything, she sighed and said, "Fine. Fine, don't tell me what was stolen or why Mai is missing. I'll just find out for myself," she snarled, pushing her way through the group and slamming the door to her own apartment.

Mokuba looked at the others. "Maybe we should've told her," he said softly.

"Nah, she doesn't need to get involved in this," Joey told him. "C'mon, lets split up and go look for Mai," he said, pulling the others down the stairs.

The elder Kaiba glanced at Jenni's door before following the others out into the streets. '_Its probably for the best that she doesn't get involved,_' he thought to himself.

None of them, not even Jenni, realized that she was already involved, whether they liked it or not.

* * *

**End Notes:** Oooo, what's going to happen? I know! And you'll be that much closer to knowing next Friday, chapter 10! And then maybe I'll post Chapter 11 the next Friday after that… it's a duel, or at least, the beginning of one, depending on where I cut it. I'm starting to dread the number of duels coming up… but I will write them! You can't have YuGiOh without duels! What would the children say!… (looks around) hmm, they were just here a minute ago. 


	10. The Search

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 10:** March 26, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, I wouldn't have ended the manga where it did… hell, I wouldn't have ended it period. But, since I haven't read that far anyway, it's a rather moot point. But I've heard things!

**Author Notes:** Cool Beans! New chapter! And the next duel is about to begin…

* * *

**Chapter Ten: The Search**

Jenni watched the others run out into the streets while she pulled on her warmest clothing. Wrapping a scarf around her neck, she pulled on some real gloves over her fingerless ones. She buckled her belt on, Duel Disk and deck in tow. Then she ran to her room, returning with the Slifer Card. She had no idea why, but she thought she might need it. She put it in her deck box with her deck, and then turned the cider on the stove off. She walked to the door, and pulled down Fenris' leash. Buckling it to his collar, she hugged him. "You've got to help me find Mai," she told him. He looked into her eyes, and then tugged her out the door. She locked it firmly, setting the dead bolts. Then the two made their way into the blizzard outside.

* * *

Joey and Serenity stepped into a store while Serenity checked in with the others. "Still no word on Mai," she told her anxious brother, slipping her phone back into her purse. "But we'll find her, I know we will," she hugged him.

Joey tried to smile at his sister, but couldn't. "C'mon, let's go," he said, pulling her back outside.

* * *

Jenni couldn't be sure, but she felt like something was guiding her and Fenris. She unconsciously put her hand over her deck box, squinting to see through the snow around her. She had walked back to Perks, and from there she felt compelled to walk East through the business part of town. The storm was beginning to slacken off, but night was falling fast. The streets were still pretty empty, a combination of work being over and the still-falling snow. Jenni sighed as she and Fenris trudged down the streets.

Something was pulling her along, and it wasn't the dog before her. She slipped her hand into her deck box, and it seemed like her senses began to sharpen, alerting her to an unseen danger. She pulled out the Slifer card, staring at it. She knew the card was responsible, but nothing more. "Please, Slifer, help me find her," she whispered, her breathing coming out in fog before her.

She felt a sudden jolt of danger, and she gasped, reeling from it. She put the card back in her case and she and Fenris both started running – to where, she did not know.

* * *

"Hey, isn't that Jenni?" Mokuba gasped, looking out the window. He and Seto had just picked up Joey and Serenity, and were headed back to the game shop to check in with the others. They all looked out the window, watching her and her dog running blindly through the snow into a nearby construction site.

"Driver, stop the car," Seto yelled, and the four tumbled out after the girl and dog.

* * *

Jenni ran through the orange netted-fences, looking around her. Fenris tugged her towards a rickety staircase that had been erected next to the giant steel structure, and they both ran up the stairs.

Jenni's pace had slowed by the time she reached the top floor, probably a good ten stories off the ground. She looked around as she walked out onto the partially finished floor. It was deathly quiet, and she heard nothing but her own footsteps as she walked out into the open.

Fenris barked, and Jenni gasped as she looked up. Mai was hanging by her wrists from a hook a couple of stories above them, looking cold and blue in the face. Jenni could see that she was still breathing, and she quickly looked around for the release on the pulley. Spotting it, she dropped Fenris' leash and ran over to the lever. A shot rang out, and a bullet sparked as it barely missed her. She jumped back, looking up.

A man in a long black cloak and with wild red hair glared down at her. "To release the girl, you must agree to duel me. Her life means nothing to me; your acceptance will grant her freedom. If you accept the duel, grab that hook before you and release the lever. She will be lowered to her own freedom."

"Why bring her into the equation, why not challenge me to a straight-forward duel?" Jenni yelled back at him.

"Because I want the card you carry – the card that led you here," he replied calmly.

Jenni knew he meant Slifer, but didn't stop to think how he knew about the card. She could hear footsteps running up the stairs behind her, and so she yelled back. "I accept!" She grabbed the hook and kicked the switch as Joey led the others out onto the landing. Fenris barked as Jenni was pulled up to the girders two stories above.

"Jenni!" Mokuba yelled, as Joey caught Mai and lowered her to the ground. Joey pulled out a knife and quickly cut her free. Seto and Mokuba were staring at Jenni as she swung herself onto the girders above, glaring at the man in the cloak.

"Put your card and two cubes in the box on the beam there," he said, pointing to her left. She saw a box bolted to the beam, and carefully walked over to it. She paused and turned back towards him. "I have put one of my own cards and two cubes into the other box here," he said, pointing to another box. "We will duel across from each other, up here across the girders. Are you ready to duel?" he sneered at her.

Jenni looked down. It had to be a twelve story drop below their arena. She said nothing as she gingerly walked along the beam to her dueling place. The steel was slick with the snow.

"Careful, I wouldn't want you to fall – yet," the man yelled at her. Her eyes narrowed as she looked across at him. She looked down and saw Mokuba and Seto staring up at her, but she said nothing.

"How dare you bring my friend into this," she yelled at the man. "You will pay for it – now! Let's duel!" she screamed, shoving her deck in her duel disk.

* * *

**End Notes:** O.O A duel on cold steel above a huge drop? What's gonna happen! 


	11. Fire and Ice

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 11:** April 9, 2004  
**Updated:** December 23, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Nope, don't own. If I did, the Red Eyes Black Dragon would be the most powerful card _ever,_ with the "Chaos Valkyrie" that I'd make up as a close second.

**Author Notes:** I'm taking some liberties with Dueling this chapter. Be warned.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Fire and Ice**

"I'll play Fireyarou in attack mode," the red-haired man said smugly, and the pyro-maniacal creature appeared before him in a ball of flames.

"I'll play Gemini Elf, in attack mode," Jenni yelled, and the two spellcasters emerged. "Attack his Fireyarou!" she cried, and a shimmering stream of magic emerged from the twins, annihilating his fire-summoner and reducing his life points by 600.

"I'll play one card, face-down, and summon Darkfire Soldier #1, in defense mode," the man said, a smirk lingering on his face.

"You'd be terrible at poker," Jenni sneered, drawing her next card. "I'll play one card, face down, then sacrifice my elves and summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the field," she cried, and the dragon appeared, hovering above the considerable drop between the two duelists.

"For my turn, I'll play one monster face down, and use Hinotama to inflict 500 points of direct damage to your life points," he smirked.

Jenni braced herself as the fireballs shot towards her from the previously face-down card. As they hit her, she slid back slightly, losing her footing on the slippery steel.

"Big brother, do something," Mokuba yelled out. Seto nodded.

"Kaiba Corp, send a helicopter to the construction sight for the new McCallister building," he stated into his com-link, his eyes never leaving the duel above.

Jenni looked at her hand. "I'll play Cyber Harpie, in attack mode!" she called out, "And lay another card face down. Red-Eyes, attack his face-down monster!"

A ball of fire erupted from the Red-Eyes, hitting the holographic card. A female monster was briefly revealed before it was destroyed.

"My Lady Assailant of Flames allows me to remove three cards from the top of my deck to inflict 800 points of direct damage to your life points whenever it is flipped face-up," the other duelist told her smugly, and she watched grimly as her life points took another dive.

"Now, for my turn, first I'll play Sparks to further reduce your life points by 200. Then I'll summon Darkfire Soldier #2, then sacrifice my two monsters to summon Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi to the field!" he called, his arms spread wide. The two monsters disappeared, and a creature with flames for hair replaced them. "Attack her Red-Eyes!" the other cried out, and her Red-Eyes was destroyed in a burst of flames. Then, his monster disappeared.

"What kind of trick is that?" Jenni yelled. The other grinned.

"Once per duel, Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi returns to my hand at the end of the turn in which he is summoned. He also has the added bonus of forcing you to discard all the cards in your hand when he damages your life points!" The titian-haired duelist cackled.

Grumbling, Jenni shoved her hand into her graveyard, then drew her next card. "I'll play Dark Witch, in attack mode!" she yelled, her fairy appearing next to her Harpie. "Cyber Harpie, attack his life points!"

"I think not," he said, flipping Negate Attack to block the Cyber Harpie's attack.

"I still got one left," Jenni called. "Dark Witch, attack!" This time the attack went through, reducing his life points to 500.

"Go Jenni!" called a female voice from below. Jenni looked down in shock, noticing that Mai, Serenity, and the blond boy were gone, and that Téa and the others had somehow appeared while she was focused on the duel.

"Be careful!" Mokuba yelled, and she nodded to him as the other duelist drew his next card.

"I'll play one monster in face-down defense mode, and use Ookazi to reduce your life points by 800," he called out. Téa screamed as the more powerful flames shot towards Jenni, nearly knocking her from the beam. She quickly dropped, grabbing the edge of the beam, trying to regain her balance. Mokuba looked at his big brother, who merely watched in silence.

'_Where's that damned helicopter?'_ he thought to himself as he watched her struggle back into place.

Jenni looked down at the others, at Téa clutching the spiky-haired boy at her side, at Mokuba, whose eyes were fearful. At Seto intensely staring at her, his face pale. An inner voice called out to her, deep and powerful. In a flash, she remembered the article she had read about Kaiba and Battle City. A plan began to form itself.

"You're going to regret challenging me to this duel," Jenni yelled at the man facing her. He smirked as he watched her, trying to stand again after his latest direct attack.

"Oh really?" he asked her. "And just how do you propose to do that?"

"It starts with this card," she said, drawing her next card. "I'll sacrifice my Harpie to summon Meteor Dragon to the field, then end my turn," she called.

"And I'll sacrifice my face-down card and Fire Princess to summon Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi to the field again! Attack her Dark Witch!" Jenni didn't even blink as her life points were reduced by another 1000 points.

"My turn again, and the end for you," she called. The redhead laughed.

"You have but one turn before I wipe you out completely. My Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi has forced you to discard your entire hand twice, and I'm sure you will not be so lucky after my next attack – its a long fall," he sneered back at her.

Jenni glared at him. "One turn is all I need," she told him, eyes narrowed. She looked at the field. She almost had all the cards she needed, now it was just up to her deck. She reached to draw her next card, eyes closed, praying to God and Slifer that it would be the one card she needed. She pulled out the card, looking at it. A grim smile crossed her lips, and she looked up at the man. "Like I said," she told him, "this turn is all I need." The man froze, the smile fading from his lips.

"First I'll use my face down Monster Reborn to summon my Red-Eyes back to the field," she yelled as her Red-Eyes appeared. The man smirked, knowing that neither of the cards were powerful enough to destroy his monster.

"You fool! You've wasted your turn!" he yelled at her.

"Seto, what is she doing? She must know her dragons aren't powerful enough to defeat him," Mokuba whispered to his brother. Seto said nothing, looking at Jenni's grim smile.

"She knows what she's doing," he told his brother, still staring at Jenni.

Jenni smiled grimly at the man. "My turn is not yet over. For my final move, I'll use the card I just drew to destroy you!" she yelled. "Polymerization, fuse my Red-Eyes and Meteor dragon to form the Meteor Black Dragon!"

The man and the group below gasped as the two dragons disappeared in the air above. They watched as a huge fireball shot into the area, flames erupting as a gigantic dragon entered the field.

"Meteor Black Dragon, destroy his Hino-Kage-Tsuchi with Cosmic Flame Attack!" she screeched. A huge fireball shot from the creature's mouth, barreling through the air to destroy the ultimate fire spirit. The resulting blast knocked the man from the girder, and Jenni and Téa screamed as he fell through the air. However, the man seemed to land on something, and Jenni realized belatedly that he had had a giant air-filled bag far below the entire duel. The man rolled off the cushion and fled into the night.

Jenni sighed, dropping to the girder carefully as the dragon faded, whispering, "Thank you," to it as it disappeared. She carefully crawled over to the wall box and retrieved Slifer and her cubes from the box. Then as the others watched, she walked over to the man's box and pulled out a Chaos Emperor card and two more cubes. Jenni was now qualified for the finals.

Jenni walked over to where the gang was watching, looking down at them. "Could someone find a ladder?" she yelled.

* * *

The red-haired man ran into a nearby alley, almost colliding with a man and woman waiting there.

"I'm sorry, Master, she was more powerful than we thought," he whimpered as he fell to his knees.

"There, there, I'm not surprised, you know," the red-haired man looked up hopefully. "But I also cannot condone failure," the older man continued, gesturing to the woman by his side. The javelin in her hands shot towards the red-haired man before he had time to move.

"Don't disappoint me again," the tall man said to the woman, stepping over the corpse before him. Her green eyes glared at him as he left the alley, melting into the gently falling snow.

* * *

**End Notes:** Actually, I didn't take as many liberties as I had originally intended. I'm saving those for later. ;) So I basically "conveniently" forgot that Dark Witch is a level 5 monster… oopsie. And I changed Hino's ability so that he could only use it once during the duel, for the sake of suspense. But the rules of dueling in the manga/show are much more open and creative than the rules of the actual TCG, so I figured no biggie. Personally, Jenni doesn't seem like the greatest of duelists (and she isn't) but she is good at pulling victories out of… um, by the skin of her teeth? Konami should hire me… 


	12. Keeping Secrets

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 12:** April 9, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Like I said, Red Eyes Rocks. If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, I'd have my own mansion like Kaiba, with a big Red-Eyes statue in the front yard. But no such luck.

**Author Notes:** Ooooo, Second Chapter… I know I'm proud of me! And if you read any of the others, go check them out – they all have Two NEW Chapters too!

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Keeping Secrets**

Jenni swiftly climbed down the ladder that Mokuba had found, then turned and asked the group, "Where's Mai and the others?"

"Joey and Serenity took her back to her apartment," Mokuba replied as he hugged Jenni. Fenris jumped up, licking his master's face. Jenni laughed.

"So why did that guy challenge you?" Seto asked, his arms folded as he regarded her sternly.

"I'm not quite sure," she told them. "Come on, let's get out of here. I want to go check on Mai," Jenni said, walking towards the stairs. She could see the others looking at her, especially Seto, with disbelief, but she wasn't ready to tell them the truth. It felt almost as if Slifer didn't want them to know about him yet.

* * *

The group rode in silence to Jenni's building. Jenni unlocked the door and took the stairs, two at a time, walking swiftly down the hall to knock gently on Mai's door. Serenity opened the door, softly. She shut it and came out into the hallway, smiling at the group waiting there.

"Mai woke up a short while ago. She told us that the guy caught her not long after she left Jenni at Perks. She doesn't remember much beyond that," Serenity told them. Everyone looked at Jenni, who was quietly edging towards her apartment with Fenris.

Jenni sighed. "I don't know any more than you all do," she told them. She turned to unlock her door. An arm grabbed hers, and she looked up into Seto's eyes, annoyed.

"Look, this guy was willing to kill Mai to duel you, and you know why. So tell us," Seto gritted, his eyes boring into her defiant brown ones.

"Please, Jenni, tell us," Mokuba begged her. She looked at him, and the others, and sighed.

"All right, come in," she told them. She finished unlocking her door, and first walked over to feed Fenris while the others came in behind her. She then grabbed a frozen rice bowl from the freezer and put it in the microwave.

"I'm going to go change," she announced. "Make yourselves at home," she sighed, shutting her bedroom door. Inside, she quickly changed into some yoga pants and a clean shirt. She quickly hid Slifer with the sword in the closet while she heard the others outside.

Yugi, Duke, Tristan, Bakura and Téa made themselves at home in the living area while Mokuba walked over to pet Fenris. Seto leaned against the island counter, looking as disdainful as usual. Mokuba looked up from petting Fenris and gasped. "Hey Seto, look at this," he said, walking into the art room. Seto followed Mokuba inside, his eyes widening at the canvas before him.

On the easel sat an unfinished painting of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. A napkin from Perks was tacked above it on the easel. "She must've sketched that while I dueled earlier," Kaiba whispered. They heard a door open and quickly walked into the hallway before Jenni noticed.

The group turned as Jenni pulled her dinner from the microwave and sat on a stool at the counter.

"So," Mokuba prompted. Jenni sighed. She didn't want to tell them about Slifer, but she hated lying to them as well.

"Well, a few days ago, after I moved in here, I received a mysterious package. It had a duel disk and an entry form for this tournament. I've dueled somewhat before," Jenni said, lying through her teeth, "but not seriously, and certainly not enough to qualify for tournament play. I'm not sure why someone wants me in this tournament, but they seem to want something." Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Are you sure its me they want? One of you had some items stolen from you – Mai told me that much. What if they're using me to get to you," she finished sternly, inwardly smiling. She was trying to turn the tables, forcing the subject back into their court, and get some answers of her own in the process.

The others looked at each other, startled. "It wouldn't be the first time," Yugi muttered thoughtfully.

"So, your turn to spill. What was stolen from you?" Jenni pressed. The other's eyes glanced at each other, but she could see Seto eyeing her with suspicion. She could tell that he hadn't entirely fallen for her change of topic strategy.

"We can't tell you," Yugi began, uselessly waving his hands. "We don't want to get you involved in this."

"That man tonight was willing to kill me and Mai. I'm involved," she gritted at him, smacking her hand on the counter. Yugi flushed. "Now, what's going on?" she asked pointedly.

"You still haven't told us what the man wanted from you, so why should we tell you what was stolen?" Seto asked her icily. She glared at him, and then counted to ten before walking to the door.

"Fine then. You keep your secrets, I'll keep mine," Jenni bit out, opening the door and waving one hand towards the hallway. "Now, since I'm the one who risked my life tonight to save your friend, I'm rather tired," she sneered, looking up into their startled faces. "So, please leave my apartment. Now," she stated, making the last word a command.

One by one, the group left the apartment. Seto turned to say something as he entered the hallway, only to have the door slammed in his face.

* * *

**End Notes:** Short, but to the point. Jenni's getting a bit short-tempered with this whole deal, not that I blame her – it would suck to be a pawn in a situation you know nothing about, and have your "allies" refuse to tell you what's going on! Anywho, look for new allies in the future chapters, more conflict, and more dueling! sigh See ya next week! 


	13. Dealing With Dragons

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 13:** April 16, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Nada, zip, zilch, zero. You get it.

**Author Notes:** Here come some of the Answers, people!

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Dealing with Dragons**

Jenni rubbed her forehead with one hand as she walked back to her dinner. She had hated kicking poor Mokuba out of the apartment, but if the others weren't going to tell her what was going on, she saw no point in letting them stay. She was too tired from the stress of her duel to put up with this harassment, especially since she had only dueled to save Mai!

Jenni poked at her dinner. She was sick of this world. She had just qualified for the finals of a tournament she knew nothing about, and she was now nervous, wondering who else might get hurt trying to get Slifer from her. She had no idea how the guy had known about the card, and that made her even more anxious. What else did they know about her that she herself was not aware of?

Jenni sighed and walked to her bedroom. Picking up the sword and card, she studied them. She felt a certain jolt in her arm, pulling her upwards. Jenni looked up at her ceiling, and felt the tug again. She walked back into her kitchen, and after telling Fenris to behave, walked out into the hallway with the sword still in her hand. Locking her door, she looked at the ladder next to it. She climbed up and pushed hard against the trap door that led onto the roof. Snow fell on her as she made her way outside.

Jenni shivered as she walked out onto the roof with the sword and card under her arm. Then she nearly screamed as something reached from the darkness and gently picked her up.

* * *

Jenni awoke in the temple courtyard. "Where am I?" she asked the leaves around her.

_:You are outside of time and space:_ a deep voice answered within her mind. She froze, feeling a tremendous presence behind her, and, clutching the sword tightly, she slowly turned to face...

The largest dragon she had ever seen. Yellow eyes glowed at her. Not knowing what to do, Jenni knelt before it.

Slifer chuckled, amused. _:Oh, get up. I haven't dealt with such formality in a very long time: _it told her. Jenni stood up, nervously eyeing the massive dragon.

"Why am I here?" she asked hoarsely.

_:This tale starts 5000 years ago:_ Slifer stated calmly.

Jenni looked at him with disbelief. "5000 years ago?"

_:Yes. 5000 years ago, an Egyptian pharaoh sealed away the magic powers of a place call the Shadow Realm in order to save this world. Yugi Mutou is that pharaoh's reincarnation:_ the dragon told her. He continued.

_:His sacrifice sealed away not only the Shadow Realm, but some of my powers, and the powers of two other god-like creatures. However, our powers were so great that they could not be entirely contained by the power of the Pharaoh's items. A Tomb Keeper's clan had been appointed to await the pharaoh's return; however, as our powers grew to be a threat, the clan leaders created three magical weapons that, when held by one specially suited to the weapon, could direct the excess power of myself and the others. The weapons were originally given to individuals devoted to clan.:_

_:With this much power at their command, however, a rivalry between the holders grew, and fighting broke out. The weapons were eventually lost or hidden away. My sword was carried here, to await the day when one suited to carrying its powers came to reclaim it.:_ Slifer told her.

"So I'm the one meant to carry your sword," she asked Slifer, awed.

_:Yes. My powers are outside of time and space, given to myself and the others by the beings that created all existence. You were summoned to the pharaoh's plane as the only creature capable of claiming that power. I assume the same has happened with the other items.:_ His face was impassive, but Jenni swore she detected a hint of sympathy.

"Let me guess," Jenni sighed. "By claiming this power, I can never go back home."

_:Correct. In claiming it, you agree to serve where you are needed, which for now, is in this plane. The same fate is destined for the other weapon-bearers as well.:_ Slifer watched as Jenni fell to her knees. He waited as she looked up, tears flowing down her face.

_:It is a heavy burden to bear, child, but Fate chose you, and none other may carry this burden for you: _he told her.

Jenni sniffed, then hugged his neck (or tried to, at least), surprising him. "Its not your fault," she told him, giving him a watery smile. "It's the Tomb Keepers."

He chuckled. _:So it is.:_ He looked at her. She had the Dragon's spirit, there was no question there. His voice grew serious, however, as he warned: _:The people who summoned you to this plane will try to take the sword and my card from you. They have already tried using one tactic – they will try again. This tournament was set up to lure the three weapon-bearers out into the open, in hopes of taking the items from them. While they can not master the full powers of the weapons, what little power they could gain would be more than enough to destroy this world.:_

Jenni's eyes were wide. "Who are they?" she asked.

_:I'm not sure. Deep magic covers the purposes behind the tournament. Even I cannot see past the veil.:_ Slifer eyed Jenni as she sighed again. _:Now:_ he told her, _:I must teach you how to use your Powers.:_

* * *

**End Notes:** I tried to make Slifer a little less… er, cuddly than I originally had him. But ooo, answers! And I told you they weren't Millennium Items! Speaking of which, I think the animation company that does Yu-Gi-Oh must be getting ideas from fan fiction – I read on TV Tome the summary for the YGO Movie that is due out this fall, and its claims its about an Eighth Millennium Item and a curse from Anubis! Like I haven't seen _that_ before! Anywho, I'm going to read around and see if that's real or just someone pulling our chains. 


	14. A New Outlook

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 14:** April 22, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh… sigh, I'm giddy just thinking of the possibilities… Too bad I don't.

**Author Notes:** Well, we now have a talking dragon/god in the picture… let's see what else I can mangle.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: A New Outlook**

Jenni spent the next couple of days jumping back and forth between the new world and the temple. The first thing Slifer had taught her was how to make the jump on her own. It all had to do with the sword's connection to its original resting place. Gradually he taught her other abilities, some which were unique to the wielder of his sword. And he taught her some basic swordsmanship, making her glad for those few weeks she spent in high school on the fencing team before it was disbanded.

Jenni hadn't run into any of the others, not even Mai. She wasn't sure yet if they were avoiding her on purpose; she knew she was avoiding them. As Monday dawned bright and clear, she yawned and stretched in bed, feeling much less nervous than she had Friday. With the knowledge of her new-found powers, she felt much more prepared to face whatever her mysterious enemies had in store for her. She was, however, aching for her home world, much more than before. She had the one photograph framed, setting it in her living room. Her heart seemed to stop every time she looked at it. Before, she had hoped of returning one day. But now that she had the sword and a purpose to save this world, she couldn't abandon that either. She sighed to herself at her inner struggles.

Jenni made her morning coffee and fed Fenris. She had finished her painting of the Blue-Eyes, which was now shoved into a corner behind the desk. The LAST thing she needed was a reminder of that twit Kaiba with the Duel Disk shoved up his ass. She snorted. She had also painted a portrait of a Red-Eyes, which she had hung in her living area. An unfinished portrait of Slifer now stood on the easel. She had asked Slifer if was okay, and he had chuckled to himself before telling her that he wouldn't come out of the portrait and attack her like he had some other poor man. Jenni just shrugged, obviously not getting the reference. But she did laugh at the over-sized dragon's glee.

Fenris barked from the doorway, stirring her from her thoughts. She laughed at him and downed her coffee before throwing on some jeans and her leather jacket. Now that she was qualified for the finals, she didn't bother carrying her disk out with her. She did hide her deck and cubes, however. Although Slifer had told her that his card had to be won from her, not stolen, she had taken the opportunity to hide her deck and cubes in the temple with him. She didn't want to take any chances before Wednesday.

Jenni pulled on her shades as she headed out into the frosty streets with Fenris. Snow covered the ground in droves, and the sun shining above caused a blinding glare. She walked to the park with her canine companion, occasionally pausing as she passed duels in progress. The tournament was drawing to a close, and the duelists seemed much more evenly matched than the random duels she had seen the week before.

Jenni entered the park, pausing as Fenris did his business. Then the two companions walked down the paths through the park until she found a colony of snowmen. Jenni laughed, and she decided to add her own snow member to the family. She and Fenris spent the morning building the snowman – well, she built the snowman, then periodically had to prevent Fenris from marking the others as his own and consequently destroying them.

Rosy-cheeked, she and Fenris headed to Perks to grab some coffee and a sandwich before walking back to the apartment. She left Fenris tied up outside and placed her order. Kaiba was sitting in the back of the café, eyes bent on his laptop. He glanced up when she came in, then frowned and looked back to his work. She glared at him momentarily, then stuck her head up and swung her braids over her shoulder. If he wanted to act like a little shit, well, so could she. She kindly thanked the boy who brought her food and lead Fenris home.

She was angry with herself as entered her apartment. She had thought about stupid-Seto all the way home on her walk. As she munched her sandwich, she tried to discourage herself. He was a twit, a bad-dresser, stuck-up, conceited, entirely too full of himself and probably dating someone already. But damn it, he was hot, she conceded. And a good big brother, if Mokuba was to be believed. '_Grrrrr…_' she growled at herself.

There was a knock at her door. Making sure the Slifer painting was covered, she looked out the peephole to see Mokuba standing there. She opened the door and he walked in, hands in his pockets, looking sheepish.

"Would you like some cider?" she asked, and fixed him a mug as he nodded. She sighed to herself as she prepared it for him. She had known that they would send someone, him or Mai, to try to talk to her. She handed him the mug, then got down to business.

"Let me guess, they sent you to talk to me," she told him, folding her arms and staring at him. He nearly choked on his cider, then looked at her sheepishly.

"Well, sorta," he whispered, looking down. She felt sorry for him, even through her annoyance.

"Look, Mokuba, I didn't mean to be a bitch, well, towards _you_ anyway, on Friday night," she told him gently, and he looked up, smiling.

"That's okay. You should have seen Big Brother's expression when you slammed the door in his face," he giggled. Jenni smiled in spite of herself.

"I can imagine," she said wryly. "But seriously, Mokuba, I really don't know what's going on," which was the truth. She didn't know who these people were or how they knew that she had the card already. It was one thing to summon her here and hope for her to find it – it was another to know that she had it and didn't know how to use it.

Mokuba stared at her. He could tell that she really didn't know why the man had come after her, but he also could tell that she was holding back something. He sipped his cider, thinking what to ask next.

"So, how's Mai?" she asked him, changing the subject. He looked up at her.

"She's fine. She's up and about again," he said cautiously. Jenni eyed his discomfort.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"We-ll," he stalled, but finally gave in under her pressure. "They tried to get her to come talk to you, but she refused."

"Why?" Jenni asked, dreading the answer.

"Well," she could tell he didn't want to tell her why. He finally shrunk under her stare. "Umm, she just doesn't feel very positively about you anymore," he mumbled.

"And that means what?" Jenni sighed. "Or let me guess. She was almost killed because of me, and even though I certainly didn't want her to be used as bait, she's indirectly blaming me for what happened, justifying her rejection with the fact that I haven't told anyone why the man wanted to duel me in the first place."

Mokuba stared at her with wide eyes. "Are you a psychologist?"

Jenni laughed, somewhat bitterly. "I took Intro in school. I guess my assumption was correct?"

Mokuba sighed. "Yes," he moaned. "Actually, I kind of sent myself to check up on you. I figured if you would tell me what had happened, then I could fix things with the others."

Jenni smiled gently at his concern. "Thank you, Mokuba, that's very considerate of you. But I think the others will have to settle that score on their own. I am happy to know, however, that I still have you as a friend," she told him. He smiled at her.

"Thanks, Jenni! Well, I guess I'd better go before Big Brother wonders where I've disappeared to," he told her, standing up. She opened the door for him as he prepared to leave. "I'll see you on Wednesday," he told her, smiling. "Big Brother has qualified for the tournament. We'll see you there!" he added, bounding out the door.

"Well, at least one of you will be happy to see me," she whispered to the closed door.

* * *

**End Notes:** The bit about Fenris and the snowman, well, that was actually inspired by my dog. I built this great snowman in the front yard of our farm, and then later that afternoon I looked out an noticed it had toppled! So I went to see why… the little twit had marked it at the base, melting the snow and causing it to fall over! Punk. Anywho, next chapter will bring the three Guardians together… but you won't quite know who they are yet! You'll just have to wait till the chapter after that! 


	15. Entering the Finals

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 15:** April 30, 2004  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Nope. Still don't own.

**Author Notes:** Well, some more filler before the duels begin again! Meet the other finalists!

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Entering the Finals**

Wednesday rolled around rather quickly. Jenni, having left Fenris in the care of a matronly older neighbor for a few days, marched to the park with her back-pack on her shoulders and her duel disk at her hip. She was wearing her leather outfit again, with a deep red corset top. Snow was gently falling around her, and somehow, she felt fairly calm. Slifer had the sword with him, and had taught her how she could summon it at will the night before. She was relieved, for she didn't want to broadcast to anyone her possession of the Sword of Slifer.

She entered the area where the announcement had been made. She was the first to arrive, so she sat on the stage, slowly taking out her eight cubes.

"Hey, Jenni!" she heard Mokuba's voice. He came running into the clearing, running up to hug her. Seto glared sourly at his brother as he stood, cool and confident, some twenty feet away. She ignored him as Mokuba began talking to her.

"I get to come too! Big Brother arranged everything!" Mokuba told her excitedly.

"But, are you not a finalist?" Jenni asked, puzzled.

"Nope, but we're Kaiba's, and Seto's not about to leave me here alone," Mokuba told her confidentially.

One by one the other duelists arrived. A broad-shouldered boy caught her attention as he entered the clearing. He had deep purple hair and exuded an aura of power. Next, Yugi and Mai arrived with their gang and started talking to Seto. It pained Jenni to see Mai ignoring her, but she instead focused on Mokuba's chatter. Xine arrived with her little group of friends and stood glaring at Jenni. A tall black boy with a shaved head entered next, followed by a shorter teen with brown hair. He waved to Yugi's group and went to talk to them.

Other teens began to enter the clearing, curious to see who had made the finals. A large group had gathered by noon, which was the meeting time. The crown hushed expectantly.

A buzzing sound filled the air, and Jenni's hair whipped around her face as a large helicopter landed on the other side of the stage. The teens cheered as Albert Stevenson climbed out and waved. He walked onto the stage.

"Welcome, welcome all to the beginning of the finals for the Winter Tournament!" the crown cheered again. "Would the first finalist please step forward?"

Jenni looked around, then climbed up onto the stage. She looked into Stevenson's cold, calculating eyes with confidence.

"Jenni Moran," she stated, holding out her eight cubes.

The crowd cheered again, all except a few noticeable members – Xine, for example, looked fit to kill. Stevenson smiled and handed Jenni her entry card. Holding his hands up to silence the audience, he continued.

"Welcome, Miss Moran! Since you are the first finalist to come forward, you will now be the first to demonstrate the power of the cubes!" the crowd whispered curiously. "Please, place your deck and entry card in your disk and turn it on."

Jenni pulled out her deck – minus Slifer – and placed it in her duel disk. Turning it on, she gasped as an image of her Red-Eyes appeared before the crowd. The cubes in her other hand had begun to glow, and slowly the miniature machines rebuilt themselves into a perfect sculpture of the Red-Eyes. The crowd oohed and ahhed over this development.

Seto Kaiba's eyes narrowed. He had not been aware that Stevenson's company had possessed such advanced technology. He wondered what else the man was hiding.

Stevenson smiled. "Now, if the other tournament finalists would please come forward?" he asked. He said nothing as Jenni walked to the end of the stage.

Kaiba came forward first and looked almost bored as his cubes morphed into a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Mokuba followed him to stand next to Jenni. Yugi soon followed, looking happy with his new Dark Magician statue. A blond-haired boy named Malik, who had stood with Yugi's group, came up as well. Xine walked onto the stage, bidding farewell to two people who must have been her brother and sister. The purple haired man, named Zane, came up alone. Then a shorter teen, named Joshua, came forward, followed by a tall black boy named Jaharvis.

The crowd applauded the finalists, a few audience members glaring at whichever finalist eliminated them from the tournament. Another helicopter landed behind the group. Stevenson waved one hand towards the waiting choppers, signaling for the duelists to hop onboard. Jenni, lugging her backpack, led the way again, with the other duelists close behind, and the helicopters took off, muting the cheers of the crowd below.

* * *

**End Notes:** Ooh, new finalists… Well, I know that most of them are newbies, but this is how I arranged it – Yugi and Kaiba were shoe-ins, and I figured Malik is good too, so he gets to go as well. Mai dropped out after the whole kidnapping thing, and as for Joey… well, I didn't want to have too many familiar faces. So, that leaves our Battle City Big 3, Jenni, Xine, and three new faces! Well, 2 new faces – I felt sorry for that kid that Mokuba stole the deck and star chips from in Duelist Kingdom, so I made him Joshua. Anyway, the finals start soon – and they're like nothing these duelists have seen before! 


	16. The Games Begin

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 16:** February 25, 2005  
**Updated:** December 22, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Well, since I am female, I guess I can't be Kazuki Takahashi. Darn. Still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

**Author Notes:** Ooooo… I'm back…

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: The Games Begin**

Jenni blew gently at her steaming coffee, trying to ignore Seto, who was glowering at her from a nearby table. It was breakfast time on board the tournament's cruise ship, and Jenni and Seto were the only two people to yet grace the dining hall.

The helicopters had, the day before, landed at a port on the edge of Domino. A large liner awaited them, housing the dueling fields for the finals. The icy waters glittered below as the finalists made their way on board and were shown to their quarters.

There had been a banquet the night before as well, where the duelists soon learned who their first duels would be up against. Jenni had the third duel of the Quarter Finals, against Jaharvis. Seto had the first duel, against the purple-haired Zane. And speaking of Zane…

The indigo-haired man entered the hall groggily. He was not much taller than Jenni, but was broad shouldered and very muscular. He grabbed some food from the breakfast buffet and shuffled over to where Jenni was seated. "This seat taken?" he asked blearily.

Jenni laughed. "It is now," she told him. He smiled and sat down.

"So, I noticed you were alone too," he asked her, shoveling eggs into his mouth. She nodded, slurping her coffee. "My friends wanted to see me off, but the Harpies had a gig and couldn't decide between themselves who should cut and come, so they all stayed," he laughed to himself. Noticing Jenni's confused look, he elaborated. "They're three girls, and they've got a band, the Harpie Sisters. They each styled their hair like on the card. They're pretty nice, but they can be pushy with each other."

Jenni laughed and ate some of her breakfast. Yugi and some of the others entered the hall, Malik throwing her a smirk before sitting with Kaiba. Zane looked between the two and asked the inevitable.

"So, what's up with you and those guys?" he asked her. Jenni shrugged.

"I'm not sure. We used to be friends, but they've grown cold lately. Some weird stuff happened this tournament, and it sort of drove us apart," Jenni sighed. Zane looked at her strangely.

"I know what you mean about strange stuff. This whole tournament has been haywire," he shrugged. "I've had people coming after me, trying to get my cards," he stated carefully.

Jenni's eyes widened. "Me too! Or really," her voice lowered, "just one of my cards."

Zane gave her another funny look, glancing over at Kaiba's table. The others were paying the quiet pair no attention. He looked back to Jenni. "Well, I think we'll just have to stick together, then. I think we might have a bit in common," Zane said cryptically. Jenni smiled.

"You're right, I'm beginning to think we do."

* * *

After all the finalists had eaten, the group made their way to the main hall where the duels were to begin.

Zane and Jenni stepped into the hall, receiving glares from Seto and the others. Jenni felt better having at least one companion with her. Xine followed them inside, glaring at both Zane and Jenni.

Albert Stevenson soon arrived, and now Jenni knew that his announcements were being broadcast around the globe. "Welcome finalists! I trust that you all are well rested and prepared for your finals?" He continued after the half-hearted response. "Good. Would our first finalists please step forward?"

Jenni quickly wished Zane luck as he walked forward onto the stage. Kaiba followed suit, smirking as he towered above the shorter but broader man. Stevenson smiled.

"Now, I have a surprise. You will not need your duel disks for the finals!"

Most of the duelists looked at Stevenson with shock. Jenni fingered her disk, looking at the man before her with suspicious curiosity. He continued.

"As I said before, this tournament will test your skills as you battle in the elements. Keeping this in mind," he waved towards curtained area behind him, "you will test your skills anew inside Stevenson Technologies' virtual arenas!"

The curtains pulled back to reveal a large monitor and two virtual pods. Kaiba's eyes narrowed. Again, there had been no information that the company held such advanced technology.

"Each finalist will compete inside this virtual arena. However, the computer will randomly designate a battle field for each pair. This field choice will either help or hurt your monsters as they compete. The field can be changed with the use of Spell cards," he nodded to the duelists, "but this new twist will truly determine your skills at overcoming the obstacles over which you have no control." Yugi nodded, as did a few of the others.

"And now, without furthur ado, let the duels commence!"

* * *

The battle was furious on the monitor. Both Seto and Zane had determinedly climbed into the pods, slipping their decks into a deck reader on the pod chairs. Jenni gasped inwardly as the pods closed and the two boys appeared on the monitor screen, standing in a sparse wasteland.

The two wasted no time in attacking each other. Jenni marveled at how calm Kaiba seemed, while Mokuba cheered his Big Brother on from the sidelines. Zane looked furious, but his moves were precise and logical. That is, until Kaiba unleashed his Crush virus.

Jenni winced as Zane's more powerful monsters were wiped out. Zane, however, seemed fairly calm about this, even as Kaiba wiped out half his life points in one turn. Jenni silently rooted for the purple-haired man, hoping that he knew what he was doing. Kaiba, however, smirked as he threw a Blue-Eyes White Dragon on the field, to join his Swordstalker and Judge Man.

Zane smiled at Kaiba, startling the taller duelist. He flipped a magic card up on the field, then placed another card in his monster zone. The magic card was Soul Exchange, which allowed Zane to use Kaiba's three monsters on the field for a sacrifice. Then Zane said, "Here comes your demise," as he summoned his new monster. Yugi's friends gasped as a golden vortex appeared behind Zane, revealing a large blue demon of some sort.

"He has Obelisk!" Mokuba gasped. Jenni quickly glanced from the younger Kaiba to the elder. Seto looked stunned, causing Zane's smile to widen.

"Obelisk, attack with Fist of Fate!" he yelled, and the demon complied, wiping out Seto's life points, throwing his cyber image to the ground.

The pods opened with the duel's end, and Zane triumphantly emerged to rejoin Jenni. Xine was glaring at the two with a calculating look that Jenni didn't like. She sadly watched Mokuba run to Seto's pod and help his brother out. Malik joined them, and the two helped Kaiba over to a chair. Mokuba glared at Zane, while Yugi and Malik looked on in surprise.

"Congratulations to our first Semi-Finalist," Stevenson announced, eyes glittering. He motioned towards the pods. "Would our next duelists, Joshua and Malik, please step forward?"

* * *

**End Notes:** Ha! A Duel with little to no effort from me! Hah! Anywho, its been awhile, so I'm sorry if you wanted more from me. The important duels will be chock-full of detail, but those are the ones that involve Jenni. And no, I'm not stealing from Battle City at all… (whistles innocently…) Also, don't hate me for kicking Seto out… I LOVE SETO! But you'll see why I did… eventually. Let's see… next I'll post the revisions and Chapter 17! 


	17. Revelations

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 17:** December 23, 2005

**Disclaimer:** Lala, I'm poor, so I guess I'm not getting any fat royalty checks, am I!

**Generic Author's Notes:  
****1.** Due to new ffnet standards, all chapters have been updated, most with some minor edits. I'll answer/re-answer reviews between now and next posting in the new area.  
**2.** I have decided on a new update policy. Now that my life is getting back together, I will now post once-a-month on whatever Friday happens to lie between the 15th and 21st. I can't promise an update on every story, but I can promise that if it doesn't post one month, it WILL post the next. This also means that some months, you'll get bonus chapters on some stories.  
**3.** Web page will be up soon with stories that can't be posted here – namely "The Villain's Guide to Evil Stuff" and songfics, etc. I put off the launch to get all this stuff out.  
**4.** By the way, if anyone has Chapter One of "The Chaos Land Tournament" or Lesson 10 of "The Villain's Guide", please let me know. My copies got deleted, and those are the only two I didn't have backed up. You will be rewarded! So please, go to my Author Page for more details…  
Thank you for your continued patience, and Happy Holidays!

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Revelations**

Jenni pulled Zane outside, uninterested in the next duel. Kaiba glared at them as they left the room, making Jenni feel slightly guilty.

"You have one of the God cards?" she asked Zane. He smiled grimly and nodded.

"So, which one do you have?" he asked her quietly. She shrugged her shoulders against the cold.

"Slifer."

"Ah, the Sky Dragon," he nodded. "Obelisk told me about him."

Jenni looked at him curiously. "Has he been training you as well?" she asked.

"Somewhat. He's not much of a talker," Zane laughed.

Jenni smiled in spite of herself. "Slifer likes to talk. A lot," she smiled fondly.

"I'll bet Kaiba is furious. Obelisk used to belong to him, you know," Zane told her. Jenni's eyes widened.

"He did? What about Slifer?"

"Well, in Battle City a few years ago, Yugi Mutou ended up winning all the God cards during the course of the tournament. That was the last that anyone saw of them. However, a few weeks ago –"

"I know. The cards escaped, and you and I found our weapons." Slifer had told her that much.

"Yup. They were too powerful for any one person to fully control all three at once. However, we have the distinct advantage of holding the Tomb Keeper's weapons, which amplify our powers, with their blessing… or curses, in Obelisk's case," he smirked.

Jenni laughed. "Slifer is pretty easy to get along with, his humor just takes some time to adjust to."

"Agreed," Zane shivered. "C'mon, lets get out of the cold and back to feeling the others glare at us. At least being set mentally on fire is somewhat warmer!"

The pair laughed and headed back inside.

* * *

Marik's duel ended quickly, with Marik as the victor over Joshua. The two shook hands cordially after the defeat, before they both went to stand with Yugi. Seto was back on his feet, glaring – as if he did anything else – at Jenni and Zane, while Mokuba looked at them curiously. Jenni felt the familiar butterflies flipping in her stomach as it was her turn to compete.

Zane patted her on the back encouragingly as she stiffly walked over to the pods. Yugi's gang cheered on her competitor, Jaharvis, though she noted with relief that Mokuba remained quiet. Jaharvis smiled stiffly at her, looking as nervous as she did as he entered the pod. Jenni gulped and followed.

"Don't lose in there, Moran," Xine sneered as Jenni entered her pod. "You still owe me my Dark Necrofear."

Jenni grinned before she sat down. "If I even still have it," she returned before the pod closed. Jenni had gone to a card shop a few days prior and traded some of the card she had won to improve her deck. She smirked as Xine's outraged cry was the last thing she heard.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing in the snow on a mountain top. '_The Mountain field_', she realized, smiling. This would give her deck a good advantage.

The virtual coin toss indicated that Jaharvis would go first. They both drew their first hand.

"I'll start by playing Master Kyonshee in attack mode, and lay one card face down," Jaharvis stated, and the images materialized on the field. Jenni was amazed at how much more life-like the monsters seemed in this virtual dueling arena.

Jenni drew her first card and smiled. "I'll summon Dunamis Dark Witch, and lay one card face down myself," she replied, setting Metalmorph on the field. Jenni almost giggled as she felt the wind from the Witch's wings brush against her. "Dark Witch, attack his Master Kyonshee!"

Jaharvis didn't flinch as he lost 50 Life Points. He drew, then smirked as he looked at the card. "I'll play Pyramid Turtle in defense mode," he said, then ended his turn.

Jenni eyed his face down card with misgiving as she drew her next card. "I'll play Neo the Magic Swordsman in attack mode, and attack your Pyramid Turtle!" The attack went through without the magic card's activation, and Jenni started to smile as she prepared her witch's attack…

"With Pyramid Turtle's special ability, I'll summon Vampire Lord to the field!" Jaharvis declared, and the new monster appeared before him. Jenni cursed – neither of her monsters were strong enough to destroy it.

"I'll end my turn," she spat.

"Good." Jaharvis smiled as he drew his next card. He summoned Spirit Reaper to the field. "I'll now use Vampire Lord to attack Neo the Magic Swordsman!" They watched as her spellcaster disappeared in a flurry of bats. "And now Spirit Reaper can use its special ability to attack your Life Point directly."

Jenni cringed as the scythe came towards her. She nearly screamed as it appeared to slice through her; the pain felt so real. Gasping, she noticed that Jaharvis looked nearly as shocked as she did. Looking down, she noticed blood on her clothes; she hoped that it was only virtual.

Jaharvis' voice shook slightly. "Um, with Vampire Lord's ability, you must remove one monster card from your Deck from the game." Jenni shook her head and tried to dismiss the pain as she pulled out her Deck. She pulled Koumori Dragon from the bottom with shaking hands, reshuffled, and then put it back in the card reader.

Jenni drew. "I'll play Gemini Elf in attack mode," she stated with a hoarse voice. "Attack his Spirit Reaper!" She watched dazedly as the twin elves used their magic to destroy the specter. But as the attack settled, she noticed…

"Why is your monster still there?" she asked, dreading the answer. Jaharvis grinned.

"Spirit Reaper's special ability keeps him from being destroyed by any normal attack," he replied. Jenni noticed with relief that his life points still went down, dropping to 2350. "Now its my turn." He drew his new card and smirked. "I'll sacrifice Vampire Lord to summon Vampire Genesis to the field!" Jenni frowned as a colossal monster took the Vampire Lord's place. "Now, using his special generation abilities, I'll discard one card from my hand to summon Master Kyonshee to the field again!"

Jenni watch grimly as he then sent Vampire Genesis to destroy her Gemini Elf. This time she did scream as the Spirit Reaper attacked, and looked down to see her clothing drenched in even more blood. She firmly decided not to look down ever again, for the virtual blood and pain were all too vastly real in her mind.

Shaking her head, trying to dismiss the pain, she drew again, cringing as she noticed her LP were now at 2300. Then she smiled, faintly.

"I'll play Red-Eyes Black Chick," she said, smiling fully as the cute little dragon hatched onto the field. "Then I'll send him to the Graveyard to bring the Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the field!" she stated, and the baby dissolved and was replaced by the full grown dragon. "Now I'll use my Metalmorph," her face-down card jerked up, "to transform him into the Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon!" Jaharvis watched grimly as her dragon transformed before him.

"Now I'll play Shadow Spell!" Jenni declared. Chains appeared around the tow duelists, shooting through the air and wrapping themselves around the gigantic vampire. Jaharvis frowned as the creature's attack points plummeted. "Black Metal Dragon, destroy his Vampire Genesis!" They watched as both chains and vampire erupted in flames and Jaharvis lost 500 LP.

"Dunamis Dark Witch, attack Master Kyonshee once again!" The Life Points went down another 50 points.

Jaharvis shrugged as he began his turn. "First, I'll play a spell card… Wasteland!" he called. The mountains faded to a flat, desolate landscape, and the snow about her melted to reveal parched earth. "Then I'll use my face down Book of Life to bring Vampire Genesis back from the Grave," he announced. Jenni sighed as the monster rematerialized on the field, stronger than before thanks to the field change. "Book of Life also allows me to select one of your monsters from your graveyard and take it out of the game," he replied. Jenni watched as Gemini Elf vanished.

"I'll now use my monster's special ability to summon Vampire Lord from my graveyard!" Jaharvis declared, discarding one monster from his hand. "And now I'll summon one more Spirit Reaper to the field!" Jenni eyed the new monster with resigned dread. She watched sadly as both her Dragon and Witch were destroyed by the vampires. She discarded another monster card due to the Vampire Lord's ability. Jaharvis looked at her apologetically as he motioned towards his two Reapers, and Jenni closed her eyes.

* * *

"Damn it!" Zane spat, watching as Jenni fell to her knees on the monitor. He felt Obelisk rumble from his own dimension as the gathered crowd watched her struggle bloodily back to her feet. He knew how real the attacks felt. He glared coldly at Xine, who was snickering at Jenni's obvious pain.

"Jenni…" Mokuba trailed off, and Zane smiled faintly at the boy.

"Jenni has more strength than she lets on. She'll be okay," he reassured the younger boy. Seto glared at Zane for even speaking to his brother, showing no compassion as Jenni staggered to her feet and drew her next card.

* * *

Jenni blinked, trying to comprehend this new card and dodge past a thousand aches and pains. She just wanted this duel to end. "I'll play this card… Swords of Revealing Light!" she called, and watched as Jaharvis' monsters were forced into defense position. "Thank God," she murmured, now remembering the card's ability. "I'll now summon Twin-Headed Behemoth to the field, and end my turn."

Jaharvis drew his card. "Since I can't attack, I'll just lay one card face down and end my turn." He grinned at her relief as she eyed his twin Reapers.

Jenni drew. She knew she needed Slifer to win now. His Vampire Genesis had 3200 attack points, and of all her normal monsters, only Slifer could top that. The pain she was feeling was making her woozy… she knew that there were other plans she could use, but she just didn't have the power to think up anything more complex than Slifer. The problem she faced now was drawing him. She looked at the card in her hand and blinked. "I'll play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards, then summon Cyber Harpie Lady to the field," she sighed. She looked at the two new cards… no Slifer.

Jaharvis drew and ended his second obstructed turn peacefully. Jenni smiled – for all the pain and blood she had felt at his monster's hands, she still thought he was a nice guy. Despite everything, she hated to use Slifer against him, but Slifer himself had told her that she must include him in her deck. She drew again. No Slifer.

"I'll play Shadow Tamer and end my turn," Jenni said softly. Jaharvis drew, then turned to Jenni.

"Next turn, I get to attack again. I'll try to make it quick," he told her sympathetically. She grinned.

"Thanks, I'll try to do the same," she teased as he ended his turn. She flinched as her Swords of Revealing Light disappeared. She drew her next card…

"I'll play Reckless Greed," she stated, throwing the card to the field. "This allows me to give up my next two draw phases to draw two cards now!" she called out. Everything was in place… she just needed Slifer. Somewhere, she could imagine Seto smirking at her desperate tactic.

She pulled her first new card, Meteor Dragon, bringing her hand up to four. Jenni closed her eyes as time seemed to stand still. All her pain-filled hope was on pulling Slifer from her deck. She drew her card, and lightning flashed around her, lighting up the crackled landscape. Jenni smiled, her eyes glowing tiredly at Jaharvis' shock.

"I'll sacrifice my three monsters to summon Slifer the Sky Dragon to the field!" she cried, and her three monsters were struck by lightning as the huge dragon sank from the darkness above her onto the playing field. She felt tiny standing before him; he nudged her reassuringly before turning to Jaharvis. Jenni had four cards in her hand, bringing Slifer's attack up to 4000. "Slifer, attack his Spirit Reaper!" Jenni cried vindictively, and the dragon rumbled as its lightning attack destroyed the boy's monster, wiping out the rest of his life points.

Everything went black, and Jenni awoke in her pod. Zane ran up and helped her pull herself out of her pod, smiling widely. She looked down reluctantly and sighed as she noticed her clothing was back to normal. The pain was receding as well, and she felt light-headed. She peeked at Mokuba, whose eyes were wide with shock. Seto glared at her with shock and suspicion, as did some of the others as they helped Jaharvis out of his pod.

"Jenni, how…" Mokuba trailed off, his voice heavy with disappointment. She gulped, and Zane squeezed her shoulder reassuringly as Xine and Yugi walked over to the pods for their duel. Jenni, however, avoided Mokuba's accusing eyes as she tugged Zane's hand. Stevenson's coldly glittering eyes were not the only ones to follow them as they quickly left the room.

* * *

**End Notes:** Oo… So, the field is almost set for the Semis, and all the cards are (almost) out on the field! Ha! FYI, I used the new Zombie Structure Deck for Jaharvis… when I first planned the duel last year, I had in fact planned to give him a Zombie deck – and Upper Deck/Konami made it easy on me! Yay! Also, FYI 2, it took me about 6 hours just to write the duel portion of this chapter, so if there are still any errors, I just don't care! 


	18. Accusations

**Dimensional Warrior Girl: The Winter Tournament  
****Author:** Chaos Valkyrie  
**First Conceptualized:** October, 2003  
**Posted Chapter 18:** January 27, 2006

**Disclaimer: **Um… no. Just no.

**Author Notes: **Well, here it is… another chapter, and another slighted duel. I love this fic, I do, but full duels take hours to write, and I'm only willing to invest that much time and energy in duels involving Jenni. So, have fun reading.

**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen: Accusations**

This tournament, Jenni reflected, was full of dark surprises. It was evening now, Xine's duel against Yugi was over, and the last god monster reveled. While Jenni had idly wondered what monster Xine had found to replace Dark Necrofear, Xine wasted no time throwing the Winged Dragon of Ra out onto the ocean field. Both Jenni and Zane had felt his angry power from the deck outside, and had run as one back to the dueling chamber. Ignoring the others, whose surprise matched their own, they watched Xine summon Ra's power to try and wipe out Yugi's life points.

But for some reason, Ra refused to cooperate. He stayed encased in light, ignoring all of Xine's commands. She was so preoccupied that Yugi beat her easily with his Dark Magician. And somehow, when the two duelists left their pods, Ra was now in Yugi's deck, not Xine's. He tried to return it to the irate woman, but the card refused to leave his possession without some almighty fire attacks. Hence, Yugi was now forced to hold the card of Ra.

Jenni and Zane found a table to themselves at the banquet that night, and talked quietly about the god monsters. Jenni tried to avoid Mokuba's look of betrayal as she ate her meal. Soon after everyone was finished, the monitors announced that Zane and Jenni would duel each other first the next day, followed by Yugi and Marik. Zane and Jenni looked at each other in surprise, then grinned.

"Slifer's gonna open a can of whoop-ass on your Obelisk," Jenni teased.

"Nu-huh, Obelisk is going to impale that dragon with his almighty power," he mock-growled at her. They both chuckled as they felt their higher counterparts sigh and shake their heads.

"I wonder if they find us annoying," Jenni asked, only to be answered with a resounding mental affirmation.

Wincing, Zane looked at her. "Well, we know that we have two of the God cards, but I wonder why Xine couldn't hold onto Ra?" he pondered. Jenni shrugged.

"We'll find out, I guess. I mean, we've already exposed ourselves," she swatted Zane as he chuckled at her choice of words. "You know what I mean. We're in the open as the true Guardians of Slifer and Obelisk, but somehow Yugi doesn't strike me as a guardian. So I'll bet that Ra's true Guardian just hasn't been revealed yet. It couldn't have been Xine, otherwise Ra would have trained her as we have been."

"Well, the true Guardian had better get a move on. I think three of us is the ideal number to endure the fiery glares of the gang," Zane said, nodding to Yugi's bunch. Jenni agreed.

* * *

Jenni had just changed for bed when there was a knock at her door. Throwing on a robe, she walked to the door and opened it slightly. Seto pushed it open further as he entered her cabin and seated himself expectantly on her sofa. Jenni blinked.

"Well, make yourself at home," she said sarcastically, shutting the door. "Can I help you?"

"Perhaps you can explain to me how you came across the card of Slifer the Sky Dragon," he asked in frigid tones.

Jenni sighed as she felt Slifer rumble. "The card came to me, Seto."

"Why don't I believe that? Did it perhaps, come to you while you were inside Kame Game Shop?" He glared at her from the sofa.

Jenni snarled as Slifer's rage washed over her. "I didn't steal it! And I don't see why I should explain to you how it came into my possession. Its not like you care!"

Seto's temper flared as well. "All I know is that the god cards mysteriously vanished from Yugi's safe last week, right after you miraculously appear and befriend Mai and the others. And now it just _happens_ to appear in your deck, the deck of a level five duelist with no dueling background to speak of? Yes, I find that highly suspicious," he yelled at her, standing up to his full towering height.

Jenni screamed. "You think I befriended Mai just to get close to the cards?"

He just glowered at her. "Yes."

Jenni glared at him, flinging open her door. "I wouldn't expect you to understand everything that has happened to me in the last week. I've lost everything I've ever had, no thanks to you or this god card that I never wanted in the first place!" she screamed at him. The injustice of the past two weeks had finally gotten to her. "I suggest you go back to your room and take the ice cubes out of your ass before I personally shove your duel disk up there!" she threatened. Slifer's rage poured from her, flinging Seto out into the hallway, where he landed with an undignified "Oomph."

Jenni slammed the door with such force that items fell, not only from the shelves in her room, but all the surrounding ones as well. Yugi and the others popped out into the hall to see what had caused the commotion, eyes widening at the sight of Kaiba on the floor.

* * *

Jenni was positively crackling with anger as she marched into breakfast. Fortunately, Kaiba had not yet appeared, giving her time to cool down before Zane joined her. She had gone to visit Slifer after she had thrown Seto out of her room, and the towering dragon helped to relieve her rage at his accusations. Or really, Slifer had tried rather fruitlessly to calm Jenni down as she stormed around the temple, wreaking havoc on the already decaying structure.

Zane appeared with a smirk on his face. "I left an ice bucket full of large ice cubes outside of Kaiba's room this morning. I hope he gets the hint," he laughed. Jenni smiled reluctantly.

"He'll probably think I put it there," she muttered.

"No he won't. I signed it from Obelisk and me," Zane chuckled. Jenni laughed in spite of herself, which only worsened as Seto chose this moment to storm into the dining hall, red-faced with the ice bucket in hand.

"I believe this belongs to you," he snarled at the somewhat straight-faced duelists, slamming the bucket onto the table before going to get some coffee. Jenni and Zane looked at each other, and burst out laughing even harder, Zane so much that he fell out of his chair. Jenni cried, she was laughing so hard, because Seto looked like he was going to come and kill them both any moment.

By the time they both finally settled down and finished their breakfast, everyone else had entered the hall. Mokuba avoided Jenni's eyes, which sobered her quickly. She hadn't lied to him, but she felt horrible about deceiving him in regards to the God cards. She would try to explain it all to him later.

Jenni looked over at Zane as the buzzer sounded, indicating that the semi finals were about to begin. They rose to their feet as one and walked out of the dining hall towards the dueling arena.

Zane and Jenni led the way into the hall, where they briefly shook hands and wished each other a good duel before climbing into the pods. Zane cried, "Ice cubes to the victor," before his pod closed, earning them both a dagger-filled glare from Seto as they erupted into laughter.

**

* * *

End Notes: Ah, short, no duels. Gotta love it. Anywho, just some transition until we get to the duel next chapter. A reviewer did ask why Yugi didn't defend Jenni… the answer is that Yugi doesn't really know Jenni yet. Hence, she still gets to argue with Seto, who knows her better. However, rest assured that that will all be changing soon, for Yugi, Jenni and Zane all have some serious talk-time coming up. Oh, and fyi, I've decided to drop the whole once-a-month big update thing, because quite frankly it'll take me forever to get through all these stories if I hold them up like that. So that means I'll be updating more frequently, and spending this month (and the rest of the down time from work) building up a back log for the rest of the year. Here's to hoping, anyway.**


End file.
